Lighthawk Legend: Book 1: Destiny's Children
by Elite-Plushie
Summary: This project has been terminated and there will be no further updates. Check on the author's current works by clicking his name.
1. Prologue

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Prologue

Space is infinite. The galactic expanse is unfathomable, with its many uncharted territories. Men have tried to find its boundaries for millennia, and all have failed. The universe is infinite.

What holds it together, this mass of energy and matter we call a universe? What power could possibly keep it in check? Some attribute it to the Great Attractor. What is this marvelous force? No one knows for sure. No mortal has ever been able to reach it, and no mortal can ever control it.

But Tokimi can.

It is said that the Big Bang was a gigantic explosion that spewed matter throughout the empty cosmos and gave birth to the galaxies. If so, then where did the energy come from?

A dream.

Is the Great Attractor truly some magnetic force as science would describe it, or does something else bind the stars to each other?

Love.

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The Earth Dream Miracle

The Hinase was a wondrous ship, with its two dimensional spires and glass-like living core. It's apparently wooden hull concealed a large quantity of weaponry. The "good piracy" that it committed was done with accurate, swift efficiency. 

Minagi lay back in her command chair and sighed. Pirating was always fun, but it had been so long; so long since she had seen or heard of her friends back on Earth. The Ryo-Ohki had not been seen for over a year, and Ayeka and Sasami had returned to Jurai. Mihoshi and Kiyone had gone back to work at the GP Headquarters, and Washu's dimension warping experiments had disappeared. What had happened?

"Hinase," Minagi said thoughtfully. "Set a course for Earth."

"Yes, ma'am." the ship responded. 

As the cruiser sped through space Minagi had an awful feeling. Something had happened. Something . . . evil.

"I've said it once, and I'll say it again." Washu stated as Tsunami paced back and forth. "I'm not one of you any longer. You want my power?" She thrust out three gems. "Here it is!"

Tsunami glared at her. "Damn you, Washu. Stubborn as ever."

Washu continued to frown in the blackness of the dream state as Tsunami leaned over her. "Don't you understand? Tokimi has found her power! I can't stop her alone." Tsunami knelt on one knee, unbecoming of a goddess. "Please, sister. I need your help." Sasami's eyes returned to her face as tears streamed down her cheeks. She looked fragile, despite her power, as a doll looks when thrown and beaten. "I . . . I can't do this alone."

Washu opened her eyes and saw that it had been another dream. She wished that she could have moved, but the crystal that surrounded her was airtight. As she floated through space without meaning, she saw a shining blue jewel in the distance.

Earth.

Sasami looked into the pool of water that surrounded the tree of Tsunami with blank, rose-colored eyes. The haunting green lights of the Jurai Tree Chamber set her small form in a strange pose, almost as if she were hanging from a cord strung high above, dead and still.

"Sasami, what are you doing here?" a sleepy Ayeka inquired. "It's the middle of the night, go back to bed."

The response she received was one of the queerest things she had ever heard.

"I want to go to Tenchi's house; that's where Ryoko and all my friends are."

Ayeka smiled. Sasami must have been sleepwalking

But Sasami continued with the same deathly expressionless face and the same soul-wrenching eyes. "Tenchi's in trouble. I know he is."

The warm atmosphere in the room dropped suddenly. It was freezing. As Ayeka shivered in her thin nightgown, she felt the floor shifting beneath her bare feet. Her long ponytails began to float and move of their own accord, as if the gravity had been altered. She was beginning to become afraid.

Sasami continued in her hollow voice. "Tokimi's going to attack and we won't be there to protect him. Tenchi's going to die."

Tears streamed down Sasami's cheeks from the unblinking pools that were her ghostly eyes. The eyes became darker and darker, and the light beams that the trees produced at random intervals became more frequent. 

Suddenly, her expression changed radically. Her face twisted into a mask of hate and malice as her new shouts echoed throughout the chamber. "My God, don't you even care, Ayeka?! Don't you even care the least little bit?!"

The floor was breaking apart and cracks ran up the walls. The lights were fluctuating in time with Sasami's speech pattern and rainbow beams flew and crackled in all directions.

"Bitch!" Sasami screamed as Ayeka's face turned colorless with horror. "You had to do it, didn't you?! You put us all to death! Traitor to your own people! Death to the traitor, death to the traitor!"

Ayeka was screaming at the top of her lungs as the roots of the trees swept out and attempted to strangle her. Her desperate cry was cut off as more roots encased her body. The lights resembled flames as Sasami, her little 10-year-old sister's eyes turned red with blood lust, and smile of cold justice illuminated her young face with a hellish orange glow. The trees were almost chanting with Sasami as Ayeka's face turned to the epitome of betrayal and horror.

Sasami's dead voice crashed against the walls and rebounded throughout the palace as the strange spirit inside her attempted a final clash with destiny. "To hell with you, witch! Burn in damnation!"

Then, Ayeka was saved. The First Knights, Azaka and Kamidake, rushed to the scene. "Have at you, demon spirit!" they shouted as they fired twin crimson and blue energy beams from their staffs. Sasami's body dropped to the floor and a twisted, dark, gaseous shape expelled itself from her mouth. It screeched in the air with a horrible cry as the First Knights obliterated it with a mighty chi blast.

The roots unraveled themselves from Ayeka and the lights returned to normal. She fell into Kamidake's arms with a badly bruised neck and a body that had almost been crushed. 

"Hurry, Kamidake!" Azaka called as he tended to Sasami. "Take her to the doctor!"

As Kamidake hurried off, Sasami awakened. She coughed and said weakly, "Azaka? What did I do to Ayeka? What have I done?!"

Azaka held her to his chest as she cried and sobbed in sorrow, and all the time Azaka was wondering. Where did this evil thing come from? Even more importantly, though, who sent it here? And for what purpose?

There was a boy prophesied in the chronicles of legend. It was said that his strong voice would call all those chosen by destiny to defend the universe from it's greatest peril. 

That time is now

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The Earth Dream Miracle

Jurai Dream Saber

TENCHI MUYO

Can't escape it, ain't no use in trying.  
You're no exception  
Love will leave you crying too till  
You are a broken man; poor you. 

The day you see her, a lovely stranger,  
You only pray you'll even know her name.  
You finally touch her, then you're in danger;  
It won't be long before you feel the pain. 

Cause your emotions will overtake you;  
You'll look for heaven in her big brown eyes,  
But she's no angel and she'll forsake you.  
It shouldn't come as any great surprise. 

Passion isn't really happiness.  
There is trouble in her sweet caress.  
Lost in confusion, you'll drown in your delusion  
If you don't run. 

Get ready, love will leave you crying.  
It's gonna hurt you till your heart is dying.  
Can't escape it, ain't no use in trying.  
You're no exception, love will leave you crying too till  
You are a broken man; poor you.

LIGHTHAWK LEGEND

Day turns to night

Night turns to day

The one who is heaven and earth

The one who is Jurai and man

The one who wields the ten wings of destiny

Open your heart

And two souls will transcend 

The boundaries of light 

So that wings laced with 

Feathers of love

Will mend the tears of darkness

And close the doorway of evil

Forever.

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


	2. Funaho Awakens

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Episode 1: Funaho Awakens---------

Okayama. The colors of the rural Japanese town had changed from snow-covered white to cherry blossom pink with the arrival of spring. New plants flowered from the old and life was returning to the Earth. 

Tenchi Masaki hopped off the Tokyo inbound bus and began to walk home. It had been a long day, as many a day had been, only consisting of school, work, and sleep. He sighed a heavy-hearted sigh and plodded forth. He was an upper-age teenager with short, black hair and gentle brown eyes. His black school uniform contrasted drastically with the atmosphere of rebirth that surrounded him. 

As he passed the lake near his house, he paused. There was that strange tree, that tree that grew right in the middle of the lake on an island just big enough for itself. A thick, worn rope had remained tied around it ever since Tenchi could remember, as had the paper charms that hung from it. There was that feeling again; the feeling that something wasn't quite right, the feeling that told him that life had not always been this way, that in some time long forgotten, he had been a different person altogether. It had more than once made him consider the possibility of reincarnation, and then dismiss it as he did all things supernatural.

He deposited his books at the entrance to his house and announced to the open skylight, "Dad! Grandpa! I'm home!"

As his father, Noboyuki, responded in kind, Tenchi proceeded to his room to get out of the heavily starched uniform and into something more comfortable. There it was again. Something was missing, something that seemed as if it should have happened, but never had in his entire life. Tenchi put a hand to his forehead and entered his well-kept room. Maybe he was going crazy.

He stripped off his clothes and stepped into the bathroom for a quick shower. It was with him constantly, this nagging feeling. All the things that used to entertain him: video games, anime, bug catching, going on outings with his friends, they didn't appeal to him anymore.

_How strange,_ he thought as he reached for a towel. Somehow, his life seemed as if it were very normal. Dreadfully normal.

"Hey Dad, I'm going out for a walk!" Tenchi called. 

From somewhere deep in his study, Noboyuki yelled "Okay! Be back in time for dinner!"

Tenchi grimaced. He knew that his father meant well, but his cooking skills were frightfully sub par. 

Tenchi found that a walk through the forest path to his grandfather's training ground proved mind clearing. The cherry blossoms continued to mount up until it seemed that the ground had bought its own pink carpet. Tenchi stared in awe at the beauty that surrounded him. Even a few camellias floated though the air from the large trees in the depths of the woods. 

He soon came upon the dirt path bordered by stones that immediately preceded the training area. The uncounted cherry blossoms were greater in number here, outperforming their 80-foot counterparts. Tenchi soon spotted the dense wooden stick that served as his training sword. Why his grandfather insisted on him learning the ancient arts, he did not know, but it kept him sharp and in good condition for school fights.

Tenchi then saw something else. An ornate wooden handle was sticking out of a very old oak tree. That had never been there before! Tenchi gave it a long, studious look. Perhaps it was part of a new training routine? He moved in for a closer view.

The spirit fire burned brightly in Grandfather Katsuhito's shrine. He knelt in ceremonial robes and prayed for the usual insight and strength.

When the fire began to burn low, he finally doused it and walked outside to retrieve a shovel and wooden bucket for the ashes. As he gently scooped them in, he suddenly jolted upright, dropping the bucket and shovel with a loud clak! What was this? A vision?

"No, Funaho!" Katsuhito gasped and rushed to his study. Sure enough, the sword hilt was gone. "No, Funaho!" he repeated. "He is not ready!"

As Tenchi moved closer, the strange stick began to glow faintly with a mysterious blue light. He recoiled. "What is this?" he exclaimed.

Suddenly, a huge shadow made its way over the horizon, spreading across the ground, towards, then past Tenchi. This was really starting to get strange! Tenchi dared to look up. What he saw defied reason. A large structure, at least as tall as the Tokyo Tower, hovered above him. From its yellow, shining center protruded four white spires which were pointed at a slight downward angle, and a vertical fifth spire that was partly covered in some sort of gray substance.

Trees blew this way and that and the cherry blossoms all fell in a gigantic heap. Tenchi extricated himself from the mess and just stared at the awesome form. Then, a light beam protruded from the bottom of the vessel and a human figure descended inside it. Tenchi quickly hid behind the remaining bushes. Had aliens arrived to take over Earth? Was this a new military weapon? These questions were left unanswered as the being touched down.

She was not human after all. Her ears were in an odd rectangular shape, stripes covered her aging face, gray hair was tied back behind her head, and she wore unusual black and blue clothing with a navy cloak. 

Then, Tenchi saw the strangest thing yet. The massive ship reduced in size, becoming smaller and lowering itself to the ground at the same time. It then proceeded to change shape! A form not unlike that of a rabbit and barely the size of the average fist plopped to the ground and . . .meowed?!

'What's going on here?!!' Tenchi almost thought aloud.

The alien spoke. "No Ken-Ohki, this isn't a jurisdiction of the Galaxy Police. That's why we're here."

'Galaxy Police?'

She popped out a strange device and turned it on. She then gasped, jumped a full 20 feet away and drew a strange weapon that resembled a sword. She pointed it at Tenchi's hiding place and called, "Come out! I know you're there!"

There was no way that Tenchi was coming out of that bush unarmed. If only he could make a dive for the wooden sword . . .

"I said 'come out'! You're not dealing with your everyday bounty hunter, you know!"

Tenchi gulped. He knew.

The female alien seemed to expect a response, then whipped out a laser pistol and reduced Tenchi's wood sword to a cinder. "You're up against Nagi, intergalactically feared renegade and keeper of the 17,000 Warrants!" She smiled. "Unfortunately for you, you've become #17,001!"

Oh boy.

Katsuhito shouldered his _katana_ and rushed toward the place where he had seen Ken-Ohki. He didn't know if he would arrive in time, or if he could be of any help, but he knew Tenchi couldn't handle a bounty hunter unarmed.

Tenchi raced behind a rock as shot after shot ricocheted across the forest. Grass caught fire and the beautiful cherry blossoms burned to the ground. Tenchi made a grab for the glowing wood stick embedded in the tree trunk and was stopped by a shot that quite literally passed right before his eyes.

"You really don't think that I got to be intergalactically feared by letting my prey escape, do you?"

Tenchi shook his head carefully, sweating bullets, his entire body a living statue.

Nagi ran her hand through her long, gray hair. "All right, Space Pirate Ryoko, you are under arrest for the willful destruction of . . ."

_Ryoko?_

"Tenchi!" Katsuhito yelled. "Take the Tenchi-ken and run!"

Tenchi gave him a quizzical look. "What?"

Katsuhito shook his head. "Take the sword hilt and run!"

Tenchi snatched the ornately carved handle out of the tree and ran like the wind. Nagi was about to follow when suddenly Katsuhito blocked her path. 

"Would you refuse a challenge from me?" he inquired.

Nagi smiled. "I suppose a little warm-up will do me some good."

The only safe place Tenchi could think of was the Demon Tomb. Though legend told that an ancient demon slept there, Tenchi was not one to believe it. It was the only solid rock structure nearby, so it was the ideal hiding place.

Tenchi rushed in and put the hilt in his pocket. It was very dark, and the humidity was way up. Tenchi wiped his forehead and slowed his pace. This tunnel was a lot longer than it looked! Tenchi couldn't even see where he had come in! 

'Okay, don't panic Tenchi,' he thought. He could smell fresh air and see a faint light ahead. 'That must be the way out!'

Nagi landed and wiped blood from a cut on her chin. "You are quite skilled, old man. Your chi is unusually strong for an Earthling."

Katsuhito grimaced. He had been hiding it, but he was exhausted. This she-witch had no real sense of her own chi, but made up for it in sheer technique! She wasn't invincible, but she was good, darn good.

Katsuhito powered up his chi again, but the Blue Shield Wings didn't appear. It suddenly hit him: his Jurai power had finally faded away. Funaho, in her last attempt to reshape destiny, must have used an enormous amount of power. Katsuhito could only guess what other changes would occur . . .

"Hey, old man! Are you just going to stand there forever?" Nagi inquired.

Katsuhito responded with his last trump card. "How dare you address Yosho, First Prince of Jurai in such a manner!"

Nagi's eyes went wide for a second, but then returned to their unusual sneering stare. "You must be going senile! There's no way you could be Yosho! And even if you were, why would you be helping the Space Pirate Ryoko escape?"

The realization suddenly dawned on Katsuhito. "The Space Pirate Ryoko?"

He dissolved into a fit of laughter, leaving Nagi wondering what was so funny.

Katsuhito calmed down a bit and explained. "I've locked Ryoko away for her crimes! You've been chasing my grandson, Tenchi!"

Nagi suddenly felt very foolish. "Hmph. I detected Ryoko's energy nearby, so when I saw him, I thought it might have been Ryoko in disguise."

Katsuhito couldn't help but laugh hysterically at this foolish turn of events.

Nagi began to grow impatient. "So tell me, old man, are you going to show me where you trapped Ryoko or are you going to sit there laughing all day?"

Katsuhito recovered. "I see you still don't believe that I'm Yosho."

Nagi laughed. "If you're Lord Yosho, then I'm the Queen of Jurai."

"Well, I suppose you can see her." Katsuhito grimaced, shouldering his _katana_. He pointed into the scorched woodland. "Her tomb is that way."

Nagi gave him a questionable look. "Funny," she said. "That's where your grandson went."

Katsuhito was suddenly dead serious. "Are you sure?"

Nagi shrugged. "Yeah, why?"

Katsuhito groaned. "I should have known; the Demon Tomb is the only solid structure nearby! Of course Tenchi would hide there! Now, he may release that she-devil once again!"

Nagi's calm eyes went wide with fear. "We've got to stop him!"

Tenchi looked in awe as he reached the interior of the Demon's Tomb. The room was an enormous circle with a diameter of at least 200 meters, with a circle-mazelike pattern cut into the black marble and filled with small rivulets of water. In the center was a small pool, out of which rose a fifty-foot column. On this fifty-foot column was an amazing assemblage of circuitry.

As Tenchi walked towards it, he saw that a woman was trapped in there. No, it was another alien! She had rectangular, elongated ears, a narrow face topped by a large amount of pale green hair that spiked itself down just past her bare shoulders. She was completely naked, except for conveniently placed metal supporters that left nothing to the imagination.

Tenchi gulped. Was this what his grandfather had been keeping from him? How unusual to keep a helpless girl trapped like that. How long had she been here? As Tenchi neared the column, he dared to touch it.

Tenchi . . .

He recoiled instantly. "What?!" Tenchi gulped. "W-who's there?" He looked at the girl in the column.

Help me, Tenchi . . .

Tenchi put on a resolute face. No matter who she was or what she was here for, no one deserved to be locked up like this. He circled the column looking for some sort of control device.

Tenchi! Hurry!

A transparent diamond floated toward him. 'Maybe this is it,' Tenchi thought. He ran his hands over the diamond and the column started to crack! A red light was flashing in the diamond.

Tenchi!

The green light that permeated the room grew brighter as Tenchi worked feverishly. More and more cracks appeared as the chamber shook and rumbled. Suddenly, the column exploded into pieces, and Ryoko was set free.

Katsuhito and Nagi had arrived too late. They both saw the rock formation rumble and shake with green, then red energy. 

"Oh no!" Katsuhito groaned. He should have told Tenchi a long time ago, but now it was too late.

The entire formation erupted skyward, and out of it soared Ryoko, in a white and red dress with a yellow and green coat, carrying an unconscious Tenchi in one hand. She set him down under a tree and turned to face Katsuhito and Nagi as rock and shale began to fall earthward.

"Good to see you, Yosho. How've things been going on Jurai?"

Katsuhito frowned. "I wouldn't know. I haven't been there in the past 700 years."

Ryoko smiled fiendishly. "Oh that's right, I broke your ship, didn't I? So, what about you Nagi? How's it goin'?"

Nagi's face was the epitome of astonishment. "You . . . you really are Yosho!"Ryoko laughed. "That's right! First Crown Prince of Jurai, you're lookin' at him!"

Katsuhito drew his _katana_. "I believe we have a duel to finish."

Ryoko grinned and gathered more red energy into a crackling ball in her palm. She then closed her fist and the energy elongated into a beam saber. "I believe we do."

Katsuhito leapt at her with a battle yell and swung the _katana_ with lightning speed, but Ryoko was no longer there. She reappeared behind him and slashed with the beam saber. Only Katsuhito's quick reflexes saved him from a mortal wound as only his shirt was torn open down the back. He leapt into a tree to recover only to find Ryoko above, firing crimson lightning into the branches. 

As Katsuhito dodged and ducked, he knew that he could no longer overpower the eternally young Ryoko without the Tenchi sword, but he could not activate it without his Jurai power.

Ryoko vaulted off the ground in an astounding aerial leap and fired off a gigantic bolt of energy, but it was blocked by Nagi's force net. "So, decided to join in?" Ryoko taunted.

Nagi frowned. "I may not be a match for your power, Ryoko, but I will not watch you kill the First Crown Prince of Jurai in such a cowardly manner."

'Cowardly?!' Ryoko thought. 'He challenged me and I attacked! What's so cowardly about that?'

Nagi yelled. "Attack, Ken-Ohki!"

The spaceship descended from above and fired an earth-shattering blast that demolished what was left of the rock tomb. Dust flew everywhere and Nagi and Katsuhito had to shield themselves.

"Meow, meow, meow!" Ken-Ohki called.

Nagi smiled. "Good work, Ken-Ohki."

A red beam saber cut across the sky faster than Nagi could follow and one of Ken-Ohki's four spires fell off and into the trees. Ken-Ohki screeched in pain and fell earthward, landing far off in the woods.

Nagi gasped as Ryoko teleported right in front of her. "Nice try, Nagi, but your cabbit isn't nearly as strong as I am."

Ryoko then delivered a brutal punch that sent Nagi careening back into the bushes. Katsuhito was suddenly behind her, _katana_ raised high. Ryoko spun like lightning and cut his sword clean in two. Katsuhito gasped.

Ryoko smiled. "I win."

Tenchi's dream was strange. He saw himself as an infant in his mother's shoulder harness, being carried by the Demon's Tomb. The infant reached out towards it.

"What's the matter, Tenchi?" his mother asked. "Do you see a monster?"

As Tenchi now looked through the eyes of adulthood, he knew that it was no monster he had seen. That green-haired beauty that had been in the cave had said hello in spirit form.

Time flew, and he saw himself staring at the cave, now a toddler. Ryoko sat near the wall unseen, smiling upon him.

As time passed again, he saw a moment he remembered well. When his grandmother died when he was six, he had gone to the entrance of the cave to weep. He had always felt a presence, and now he saw a forlorn Ryoko, with her hand on his young head, trying to comfort him in vain. She probably didn't know then, but she had helped. Even though Tenchi had been alone, he had felt a comforting aura, and now he knew who that had been.

He saw many such episodes of his past, Ryoko's watchful eye always guarding him. But he also saw a longing, a need for him to see **her**, to play with her and not by himself.

Then, he saw a scene from a few months ago, when he had said his goodbyes to his childhood playground and headed for Tokyo. Ryoko had been there too, weeping silently at the thought of Tenchi leaving her.

Tenchi felt a tug at his heart. How very sad, that he had not even acknowledged her over all those years and she still cared for him. Then, he felt a warm, encompassing feeling, as though he were in complete security.

"Understand her, Tenchi." a voice said. "She is a Space Pirate, and a Devil Princess, but she loves you very much. Help her to love others as well . . .

When Tenchi awoke, a strange scene greeted him. Nagi lay unconscious in the bushes a few hundred yards away. His grandfather was at Ryoko's sword point, and the sun setting in the west cast a blood red light over the remains of the Demon Tomb. Without even realizing it, Tenchi knew exactly what he had to do, almost as if it had been ingrained in his blood. He rose and drew the Master Key, the Tenchi-ken.

"So old man, it ends like this." Ryoko mused. She sat atop a tree branch with her beam saber perilously close to Katsuhito's throat. "You fought your last battle with a metal sword and a washed-up bounty hunter. Is this the best you can do? Where's your beam saber?"

Katsuhito cleared his throat. "Ryoko I have long since lost my Jurai powers, and the Tenchi-ken now belongs to-"

"Enough, old man." Ryoko stated. "You're going to pay for locking me in that tomb for 700 years!"

She raised the beam saber as if to administer the final blow, but then paused. A sound had permeated the air, a sound like that of a beam saber formation. But it carried a huge chi vibration, stronger than any Ryoko had felt before. 

She knew who it was without even having to look. "Tenchi?"

Tenchi stood a few feet away holding the Master Key Saber in his hands. The sword's ornately carved handle that had been embedded with three gems sprouted a beautiful, shining blue light blade that caused the air around it to hum with power. 

Katsuhito nodded in approval. So, Tenchi had much Jurai power in him. The boy had not pressed a switch or button to activate it. The Master Key was activated by the power of one's spirit.

"Ryoko," Tenchi said through gritted teeth. "Let my Grandpa go."

Ryoko, for once, looked stunned. "Tenchi . . . , but why? He caused me 700 years of suffering all because . . . because . . ." She couldn't remember.

"I'll tell you why!" Katsuhito yelled. "Seven-hundred years ago, you attacked Jurai and killed many innocent people in a quest to control Tsunami!"

Tenchi looked confused. "Jurai? Tsunami?" Katsuhito paid him no heed. Tenchi shook his head and restated. "Let my Grandpa go Ryoko, or I'll have to destroy you."

Nagi had been watching. She was amazed by the look of hurt on Ryoko's face, as if someone close to her had betrayed her. And that boy . . . wielding the Master Key with such power; there was no doubt that he was now First Crown Prince of Jurai.

A tear went down Ryoko's face as she dissipated the beam saber and began to float into the air. In a small whisper, one that a child would use when saying something inappropriate, she said "I'm sorry, Tenchi."

With that, she disappeared.

Tenchi sighed and closed the Master Key. Katsuhito walked over to Nagi and helped her up. "Will you still chase her across the galaxy, Nagi?" he asked.

Nagi smiled. "No. Didn't you see? The Ryoko I know would never have backed down because of that! It seems she has changed for the better. I leave in peace. Come, Ken-Ohki!"

The cabbit was now healed and bounded out of the forest with cheerful meows. It transformed into a ship and was off with Nagi in the blink of an eye.

"Thank God that's over." Tenchi said.

"I think it is." Katsuhito said, throwing his broken _katana_ to the ground.

Tenchi looked shocked. "Why not fix it, Grandpa?"

Katsuhito turned. "Because she won."

As the sun set on the two men who slowly made their way home, Tenchi didn't feel that emptiness that was usually his constant companion. This was who he was.

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


	3. No Need for a Maid

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Episode 2: No Need for a Maid------

Native Americans believed that every living thing had a spirit, including trees. Ryoko pondered this as she hung upside down in midair, gazing at the tree that resided in the lake in front of Tenchi's house. This tree almost seemed to talk to her, as if it had something to say but couldn't make her understand.

The Devil Princess righted herself and hid from view as Tenchi walked home from school. As she spied on him from the tree, she blushed. What would the Ryoko of 700 years ago have thought of spying on a boy? She knew the response she would have given, but back then she couldn't have imagined that a man could be so gentle, so handsome, so timid, and yet so resolute when it came to battle . . . She chuckled at herself.

Tenchi suddenly heard and looked in her direction! 'Oops.' Ryoko thought as she hid herself again.

Tenchi seemed to suspect something, and then shrugged and resumed walking.

Ryoko smiled. Fortunately for her, Tenchi had a very thick head.

Tenchi sighed and gazed into the sky as he plodded towards the vegetable garden with an oversized basket over his shoulder. That demon girl kept playing in his thoughts, and the more he thought about her, the more he debated the necessity of his harsh warning. Despite the obvious reason for it, she seemed truly hurt at the very notion that he could hold her in a hostile image. 

Tenchi shook his head. Why did this dwell in his thoughts? He had done the right thing, yet that hurt look had burned itself upon his memory. He vowed that if he were ever to meet her again, he would not use such harsh tones, unless the situation called for it.

Despite his father's disguised apathy and his grandfather's lectures on how responsibility sharpens the intellect, wrenching the ripe vegetables out of the ground was a hard day's work! Still, Tenchi being Tenchi, he set to it with a will and the mindset that it was better done sooner than later, or worse, not at all.

When he arrived at the carrot row, he heard a peculiar noise in the brush. He thought nothing of it at first, but it kept getting closer. He pulled the Master Key out of his pocket and stood poised for battle. The horizon seemed empty.

Still, Tenchi called "Is anybody there?"

No answer. 

Tenchi put away the Master Key and resumed picking, but the noise also resumed. Again, he paid it no heed, that is until he felt a furry presence on his shoulder. He shouted and dropped the hand shovel that he had been working with, standing straight up and doing and about-face in the same movement. What he saw at his feet, was a cabbit.

It looked similar to what he had seen of Ken-Ohki, but it had brown fur, white-tipped paws, amber eyes, and a red jewel on its forehead.

As Tenchi calmed himself, the cabbit curled its enormous ears back and whimpered pathetically. "Wha--what do you want?" Tenchi asked. 

The cabbit made a strange noise and seemed to point at the object in Tenchi's hand.

"You want a carrot?" Tenchi inquired.

The cabbit's ears flew straight up and stars filled its eyes.

Tenchi smiled. Whatever this thing was, it was outrageously cute. "Sure, here you go."

He knelt and offered the orange veggie. The cabbit amazingly downed the thing in one gulp!

Tenchi sat back in the dirt. "Geez, you didn't even bother to taste it."

The cabbit gave Tenchi the "pet me" look. Tenchi obliged and the creature mewed with delight.

Tenchi then noticed a collar. The nametag read: RYO-OHKI.

Noboyuki was an architect. He had designed the Masaki residence, and had an office in Tokyo, but unlike some designers, Noboyuki had talent. One look at Tenchi's house would tell you everything. The unique design, the spacious interior, the meticulously planned decor; it all pointed toward a master home designer.

However, this is where his talents end. Though his effort was commendable, Noboyuki's attempts at cooking, cleaning, and understanding other people were disastrous. This was where Tenchi's grandfather, Katsuhito shined. The man had a magic touch that seemed to grace every project he set his mind to. 

Teaching Tenchi to swordfight was a monstrous load of work, considering that the boy had been raised in the age of comfort. But Tenchi also had mysterious talent, almost as if he had been a born warrior.

He was like his mother and grandfather in many ways, Noboyuki reflected. He sat in the living room couch watching the many birdhouses that hung from the skylight awning. To this day, no one could remember where they had come from, or who had put them there. They just seemed to have appeared . . .

Then there was a knock at the door. "Coming!" Noboyuki shouted as he hurried to the atrium. As he opened it, he sighed with relief. "Oh good! Are you the maid that I hired?"

The tall girl's face was hidden underneath a white cleaning hood as she answered "Yes, Honorable Father." 

"Great!" Noboyuki exclaimed. "This will be the first time we've had a real cook around the house. Come on in!"

Had he looked beneath the hood, Noboyuki would have noticed the maiden's unusual rectangle ears and spiky green hair . . .

As Tenchi prepared to leave for home, his carrot bag full, Ryo-Ohki mewed at his foot and tugged at his pants leg. Tenchi smiled. "So, you want to come?"

The cabbit's eyes lit up and it gave off a chorus of cheerful mews as it rode home in the carrot basket. 'Well,' Tenchi thought. 'I've always wanted a pet.'

As he and his new furry friend headed down the road to home, Ryo-Ohki started to meow a familiar tune. Tenchi concentrated on the strange music. He had heard this before, somewhere . . . somewhere in his dreams.

The car came out of nowhere. Tenchi only saw the headlights and prepared for the worst, but suddenly, he was flying! He looked back and saw the singing cabbit lifting him and the carrots over the car and onto a clear section of ground. 

"Wow!" Tenchi exclaimed as they touched earth. "Thanks a lot, Ryo-chan!"

Ryo-Ohki smiled benignly. "Mreow."

When Tenchi arrived at his house, he knocked on the door as usual. What he didn't expect was the doorperson. He fell backwards with a shout and the carrots spilled everywhere. It was a strange scene indeed, with carrots everywhere, Ryo-Ohki stuck in the basket, Tenchi on the ground, and the smell of fish _tempura_ wafting from the doorway. 

Ryoko wiped her slim hands on her apron and smiled. "Well, a girl always likes to get a response."

As Ryo-Ohki meowed happily at the sight of her partner, Tenchi groaned. He could tell that it would only get weirder from here.

Then Noboyuki rounded the corner with a basket of magazines and called "Oh, hi Tenchi! Meet our new maid, Ryoko Hakubi!"

Ryoko helped Tenchi to his feet, made sure Noboyuki wasn't looking, and caused the carrots to float back into the basket and Ryo-Ohki into her arms. She winked. "We'll get those cleaned up and I can make some of Ryo-chan's carrot stew, what do you think?" 

Ryo-Ohki definitely agreed, but Tenchi was still speechless.

That ended when Ryoko dragged him inside with her. "Come on, Tenchi! If you're too slow, then the bread loaf will burn!"

Ryoko giggled to herself as she stirred the colloid mix of stew. What must Tenchi think? A space pirate for a maid, a Prince of Jurai for a grandfather? Ryoko came to a realization. If Yosho was the Crown Prince of Jurai when he left to fight with her, then that meant . . . that Tenchi was now the Crown Prince. She blushed. It only made him better in her eyes. 

As she continued to prepare the small feast, she wondered. Where had she learned to cook? She couldn't remember anytime during her pirating years when she had taken to the skill, since she and Ryo-Ohki had always managed to steal food from somewhere, and being trapped in a cave for 700 years doesn't exactly teach you anything new. So where did this newfound skill come from?

Then, Ryoko felt that she wasn't alone. She looked to her left, and saw a little girl watching the stew cook. As the girl turned, Ryoko could see her pretty pink eyes and turquoise hair that had been styled into two extravagantly long ponytails. She wore a white apron with a carrot logo over a pink, yellow, and white robe and smiled at her as if she was her best friend.

"That's good, Ryoko!" the child said. "This time your cooking won't flood the house for sure!" 

Ryoko stood in shock. "Who are you?"

The girl laughed and put on a cute face. "Come on, Ryoko. I'm your friend, Sasami."

As Tenchi walked into the kitchen to see what was holding up dinner, he saw Ryoko asleep on the floor. "Come on." He said as he tried to reanimate her. "Ryoko, Ryoko, wake up!"

She came to and jumped upright. She looked around and saw no little girl, but the object of her affection was giving her a disapproving look. 

"You know, that kind of behavior won't fool Dad into thinking you're a maid, Ryoko." he said.

"What are you saying?" Ryoko replied. "I really do want to be your maid."

Tenchi smiled. "Well, don't fall asleep on a paying job and I might begin to believe it. Is dinner ready yet? Grandpa and Dad are getting impatient."

Ryoko checked and winked. "Sure. I'll have it ready to serve in five minutes."

As Tenchi left for the dining area, Ryoko put the food on serving plates. Was that girl a dream, and if so, why had she fallen asleep in the middle of cooking? Ryoko shook her head and sighed. The euphoria of being around Tenchi must really be getting to her.

Tenchi returned to help her carry the food in, and after a short blessing, the meal began in earnest.

Nighttime had descended on the Masaki household. Everyone had retired to bed, but Ryoko was restless. It had been such a wonderful day. For once, she had actually put real effort into something that helped other people. For the first time since she could remember, she had been truly appreciated instead of feared, and she finally felt that she belonged somewhere.

All these new feelings had Ryoko rolling in her nightgown and fidgeting in her sleep. She finally decided to give up on sleep and explore. She teleported outside the house to get a better view of its wonderful architecture. Above the skylight hung several birdhouses. Ryoko realized that she had never really taken the time to observe the curious winged creatures, so she flew toward them while out of phase with matter so as not to disturb them. She marveled at their tiny-feathered breasts rising and falling and how the chicks of new mother birds kept the poor female busy on through the night. The male birds trying to ignore their duties in another corner made Ryoko laugh silently. They sort of reminded her of Tenchi.

A cold wind blew and Ryoko wished that she had put on something warmer before venturing outside. 

A cry rang out in the night, "Ryoko, heads up!"

Ryoko looked up just in time to see a hammer rapidly descending toward her. She had no time to evade, so the hammer smacked her on the top of the head. Luckily, her massive hairstyle blocked the brunt of its force.

As she looked for the source of the free-falling appliance, she saw two women above her putting up birdhouses that had been there just a few minutes before! One wore a pink T-shirt and khaki pants. Her hair was as light blond as her skin was sienna brown, and her wide, bright blue eyes radiated concern. 

"Oh my gosh! Are you all right, Ryoko?"

The other woman seemed to be only an adolescent, yet she exuded an aura of wisdom, almost as if she were many times older than Ryoko herself. This strange creature had flamboyant magenta-colored hair that rose in a giant plume from the back of her head. She wore complex, alien clothing that looked similar to an old Science Academy uniform, and smirked at the blonde's comment. 

"Of course she's okay. It would take more than a flawed Earthling weapon to hurt my daughter, Mihoshi."

'Daughter?'

"Are you sure, Washu?"

'Washu??'

WHAM!! Ryoko woke up in the bushes outside the Masaki residence sometime after dawn. The mail truck had come by and accidentally ran over her in phased matter state. The fact that she had been in limbo had saved her from most of the damage, but bones had been broken. She cried out and the mail truck stopped. The mailman hopped out, cursed himself, and rushed to her aid. Tenchi, who had been looking for her, also came. 

"Oh God!" the mailman panicked. "I didn't see her, honestly I didn't! What was she doing lying out here anyway?!"

Tenchi carefully picked up Ryoko as she sobbed from the excruciating pain. "You can go." he said. 

"But it's all my fault!" the mailman protested. "Isn't there anything I can do?"

Tenchi gave him a cold gaze. "You can look where you're going next time."

The distraught post office employee called 911, but Ryoko use her powers to block the transmission. Tenchi sensed the action and asked her if she was going to be okay. She smiled weakly.

"I've been through worse. My body heals better without, no offense, primitive interference."

Tenchi held her close and called to Noboyuki to prepare a bed.

The next few days were like nothing the Masaki household had ever seen. Katsuhito had made the best casts he could for the situation, and he supplied herbal remedies to speed the healing process. Noboyuki suggested requesting medical funding from the postal service, but Tenchi thought better of it. It would do no good to start a fight over something that wouldn't help the situation. 

Ryoko only moved from that bed when she needed to go to the restroom, and even then Tenchi had to help her there. Of course, he politely turned away when it would be inappropriate to help any further. 

Ryoko, though in pain from the wounds, enjoyed the attention she was getting from Tenchi. He kept a constant vigil, and when he needed to leave and work in the fields, she had Katsuhito to watch her. During this time, when Tenchi would bring her meals that he himself had taken the time to cook, they both took a liking to shows that would be on. Tenchi would laugh at the same things she would, and would always explain the Earth customs that she didn't understand.

One day, as Ryoko lay back in the many pillows that Noboyuki had managed to scrounge up for her, she was watching one of the anime soaps on TV when a peculiar tradition was displayed. The cast of the show took a trip to a place called the "public baths". Here, men and women went to separate pools of hot water and talked about various things as they soaked in the water. It seemed oddly familiar to her, as if she had been to one of these baths before. 

Then, she suddenly felt very free, as if she were flying but couldn't move as well. She felt a pitcher next to her and a drinking bowl in her hand. She took a sip and almost passed out from the taste, yet it had an odd pleasurable quality to it, just like an alcoholic beverage! 'Sake,' Ryoko thought.

A conversation was taking place a few feet away from her. A blue-haired woman was constantly glancing at her watch with a worried expression on her face. The women named Mihoshi and Washu that had appeared in her last dream were arguing about some TV show, and the girl named Sasami was chasing Ryo-Ohki around the pool. 

This was the women's bath, just like the one on the TV show! What was she doing here? Hadn't she just been in bed?

Someone was yelling at Ryoko, another girl with purple hair and crimson eyes. What was she saying? Ryoko couldn't hear. She was already drifting off to sleep in the relaxing waters.

Tenchi picked up the controller and switched off the TV. He covered up the gently snoring Ryoko and smiled with that same warm expression that he showed to anyone dear to him. This space pirate had changed. Grandpa's stories of the Demon Tomb had undoubtedly been correct, but something had changed this woman who had warranted the title of "demon". Tenchi recalled his dream about Ryoko watching over him as a boy. Had he been the force of good in Ryoko's criminal lifestyle?

Tenchi turned off the lights and headed to the fields to pluck some ripe vegetables. Ryoko had arrived as an enemy and had disguised herself as a maid, but now, she was a part of his family. 

Ryoko had learned how to love.

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


	4. Malfunction

Episode 3: Malfunction---------------

The dreams still came to her at night. Ayeka moaned in her sleeping chamber. Once again, she stood before the devil-faced Sasami in the tree chamber, being strangled to death by her own sister. She knew that it had really been some demonic spirit, but the shock remained. It had been three months, and neither she nor Sasami had shown signs of recovery from the mental injuries they had sustained, so their mother, Lady Misaki, had gone against their father's wishes and sent them to Earth with the guardian robots Azaka and Kamidake, named after the First Knights.

Earth was a planet beyond the reaches of most of the stress of Jurai's royal responsibilities, and the Galaxy Police officers Mihoshi and Kiyone had been assigned to protect them. They would be arriving in a few days.

Ayeka sighed as she gazed out the port window, her long violet hair still in its sleeping cover. Why Earth of all places? Why not Ryuten, or someplace where the Jurai royal family would receive the proper respect? They had been assigned to keep a low profile, had been granted with what was believed to be a large sum of Earth currency, and their residence had been selected inside the island that the Earthlings called Japan. If Ayeka remembered correctly, the name of the town in which they would be arriving was Okayama.

Tenchi stretched and yawned as he got out of bed. The morning light was just barely creeping past his shaded windows, and he could smell breakfast being cooked downstairs. He quickly put on a green T-shirt and a pair of jeans, folded his bed, and walked downstairs. 

Yosho wasn't cooking. It was Ryoko!

She turned and smiled. "Hi, Tenchi!" She was standing on a crutch, and she had removed her arm cast.

"Ryoko, are you sure you should be up? I'm sure Grandpa wouldn't mind cooking for one more day." Tenchi stammered.

She turned back towards the stove. "No, if I'm ever going to get better, I have to exercise."

"But so soon?"

"It's been two months! Have more faith in my healing ability; after all, I am a space pirate."

"That's true. Sure you don't want any help?"

"No. I'll be fine, but thanks anyway."

"If you say so."

As Tenchi walked away, Ryoko had the temptation to cut the counter in half with her beam saber. She didn't want to lie to Tenchi, but she didn't want him to worry either. The real reason that she was out of bed was that she was agitated. Her overly powerful sixth sense told her that danger was approaching; not necessarily a life-threatening danger, but one that Ryoko knew from far back in her past. She was trouble all right. Trouble with a capital "A".

"Princess Ayeka, we have arrived at Planet Earth." the orb-shaped core announced. They had been traveling aboard Ayeka's ship, the Ryu-Oh.

"So soon? It should have taken longer, given the reach of our father." Ayeka mused. 

"Are we there yet?" Sasami inquired.

"Yes." Ayeka responded. "And at a most unusual time."

The Ryu-Oh began its descent to Earth, and flames erupted on its bottom.

"What's going on?!" Ayeka shouted.

"The planet's atmosphere is more resistant than we had at first expected. The air appears to be intoxicated with high levels of carbon monoxide." the computer responded.

"Pull us back!" Ayeka demanded. "A vacation is no good if we get poisoned by the very air!"

"The levels of carbon monoxide are high enough to cause resistance, but they are not harmful to biological tissue." said the computer. "In fact, the area we are heading for is almost chemical-free."

"I don't care." Ayeka cried. "If it contains pollutants, then it is not fit for a Juraian Princess to breathe! Take us back!"

"I can't. The atmosphere entry has jammed my thrusters. I am not able to pull us out, nor control the landing. I can only guarantee that we are headed for Okayama."

Katsuhito had gotten out of bed early that morning and had consulted the spirit fire. Ever since Ryoko had escaped from her cave and had come to live in his son-in-law's house, he had felt a deeper bond with her than if he had just met her. It was highly unusual, given his old and weathered self, so he had summoned the Jurai spirits. He had received no answer.

What could this mean? Even when they did not know the answers to his queries, they had always told him thus, so why no answer?

He gazed up into the leaf-ridden autumn sky. It had been many months since Ryoko had come to live with them, and all this time the remnants of his Jurai power had been warning him of something. Could Ryoko be dangerous?

Katsuhito laughed at his own question. How ironic that the demonic space pirate that he fought a life-or-death battle with centuries ago had turned out to be a bowl of Jello in his grandson's arms. No, Ryoko wasn't what the spirits were warning against, but she had triggered something that had begun these . . .

These . . .

Katsuhito had lost his train of thought. He shook his head as he always did when he figured that he had come down with amnesia. Then he looked up again. What was that meteor that was hurtling down towards the shrine?!

Tenchi was just going out to the fields with Ryo-Ohki when a shadow of immense proportions blocked the sunlight. He would have been crushed and burned to death by Ayeka's ship if it had not been for Ryoko. Having no time to push Tenchi out of the way she rammed herself into the ship head-on.

As Ryoko's brutal punch hit the nose of the ship, Tenchi saw a heart-ripping scene. Ryoko had put all of her energy into the punch. She had seen for a brief second that the only person she cared about in the universe was about to be destroyed and something hit her. She didn't even have time to think, but in that second, her mind flew into a trance. 

She was a little girl again, and she was in a solid steel rectangular room with no furniture at all. Only a few sheets covered her. In her arms, she held a cabbit. On her last mission of destruction, Ryo-Ohki had become seriously wounded, and Kagato had reasoned that leaving her to die would be less expensive than saving her, but little Ryoko would not see her only friend die. 

She had snuck the cabbit past Kagato and was healing Ryo-Ohki with her own life force. She coughed a desperate cough that echoed in the dark chambers of the Soja. She couldn't keep this up forever.

Then a door appeared out of nowhere and Kagato slammed it open. Ryoko screamed as Ryo-Ohki flew out of her arms and into Kagato's.

The aged man squeezed Ryo-Ohki's small neck between his thumb and index finger. "So, you thought you could hide this from me Ryoko? Now, witness the death that so easily could have been prevented if you hadn't intervened." Ryoko's eyes went wide as Kagato continued. "Yes, Ryoko. I wasn't really going to kill the cabbit; this was a test of your obedience to me."

Tears of unimaginable grief and frustration welled up in the naked little girl's eyes as Kagato laughed. "Now your friend pays the price!"

Ryoko let loose a cry that one hears only once in a lifetime. The sheer volume made Kagato drop the cabbit like a ticking bomb and cover his ears. The cry echoed throughout space and time, the sound waves tearing their way across the cosmos. Kagato had made a mistake. He had pushed the forlorn Ryoko too far, and had brought her into contact with an immense power, the likes of which he had never seen. He knew that it existed; it was the reason for his quest. Others would think he was searching for the feared Jurai power, or perhaps the power of the gems, but no, he was searching for something far greater. The only thing he was missing was the key. The key which he could never possess: love.

Ryoko's young face contorted into a mask of grief and stifled anger as she seemed to burn with pure energy. Kagato reared back in fear but it was too late. Ryoko screamed and dashed through the air with a speed Kagato couldn't follow.

Two months later, he woke in a regeneration capsule. He turned to the maintenance robot and asked "What happened?"

The robot reported. "You were brought into the ward in dismal shape. Your body had been mangled almost beyond recovery. However, we applied an extensive amount of astro-body material to replace unnecessary organs. She is being held in a detention cell, and we have managed to piece you back together. You will, however, notice some changes."

Kagato rose and removed his white glove. There appeared to be nothing underneath, but Kagato could feel and move his hand as if it were really there. All that didn't matter, but he had learned his lesson. He would never dare push Ryoko that far again if he wasn't controlling the gems.

It was this same power that sprang up again in Ryoko. Her punch split the ship from tip to stern and shattered the glass core. As the stunned Tenchi was swept out of the way by his grandfather, he thought he saw a ball of light shoot out of the wrecked ship as soon as Ryoko collided with its hull. 

Energy waves flew from both Ryoko and the Ryu-Oh. The bolts tore up the ground as Ryoko strained against the ship. Chunks of rock began to float rather than fly and a crater started to form underneath the woman and the machine, defining the area of Ryoko's energy sphere.

The ship had broken in half but had failed to hit the solid earth. Ryoko hovered ten feet above, wielding a ship half in each hand. With a mighty yell she hurled the smashed spacecraft into the lake and fell earthward. The energy faded, and the space pirate's newly pummeled body landed softly in Tenchi's waiting arms.

Tears welled in his kind eyes as he looked at the girl who had almost sacrificed herself to save him. 

"Why?" Tenchi choked. "Why for me?"

"Well now, isn't this wonderful?" Ayeka complained.

She, her sister Sasami, and the guardian robots had materialized somewhere in the woods behind the Masaki Shrine.

"Our ship has crashed on a desolate planet in the middle of nowhere, we get teleported into a barbaric forest, and we didn't even manage to save my wardrobe!" 

Sasami sighed with the guardian robots. "Sis, can't you be glad that we're all okay? Besides, this planet isn't that bad." She took a moment to look around herself as Ayeka refused to be consoled. "Actually, its really pretty! Look at the trees, Ayeka!"

Ayeka saw the trees of the fall, with their various crimson, orange, and golden leaves. A light breeze whooshed by, playing with she and her sister's long ponytails and causing more leaves to fall. They danced in the air and swirled around the group, as if attempting to remind them of something long forgotten.

Sasami smiled. "There aren't any trees like this on Jurai."

Ayeka was lost in thought. 'I know this.'

__

The trance was broken by a shout from a boy running through the woods. "Hey, you there!"

"Oh no!" Ayeka gasped. "It's one of the natives! Quick, run, Sasami!"

As the mysterious girls and the pair of logs dashed off deeper into the woods, Tenchi was running out of breath. Sure, practice kept him fit, but it didn't account for chasing aliens through the forest at 9:00 in the morning, did it?

Then Tenchi heard a scream. He rushed headlong into the deep woods, Master Key in hand. Both girls, in their blind dash, had happened upon a bear. It was of a normal sort and normally docile, but having been woken from sleep by a pair of screaming women and their bumbling guardians, who couldn't seem to say anything but "Here we come, here we come, here we come . . ." isn't the most pleasant of experiences.

Ayeka and Sasami were now trapped in-between the "savage native" and a roaring beast. "What do we do?" Sasami whimpered.

Tenchi analyzed the situation quickly. By their look, these two had to be the pilots of that ship, and questioning home-wreckers who had been mangled by a bear wouldn't be the best way to go about things, so . . .

It was hard to tell who was more amazed when Tenchi activated the Master Key, the girls or the bear. The animal, upon sensing the huge chi vibration fled in fear.

As Tenchi sheathed the sword, Ayeka stood shell-shocked. Sasami clapped and cheered. "Wow, you're great! Who are you, huh? Where'd you get that sword? Are you from Jurai?"

Ayeka stopped the flurry of questions as Tenchi stood with a sweatdrop forming over his head. "Hush, Sasami. We shouldn't interfere with local-"

"Jurai?" Tenchi interrupted. "Grandpa mentioned that place. Say, are you two from Jurai?"

Ayeka gave Tenchi a good look for the first time.

Sasami smiled. "Of course we did. Where do you think we-"

The interruptions continued as Ayeka stuttered. "Y-Y-Yosho?"

"Huh? No, I'm Tenchi Masaki."

"And I'm Princess Sasami! Nice to meet you, Tenchi! This is my sister Ayeka, and those are our guardians, Azaka and Kamidake!"

Ayeka was confused. This boy; he had Yosho's kind face, but his hair was unnaturally short, and his garb was also strange. Even his voice sounded like her half-brother Yosho's!

Tenchi smiled at the happy little girl and her befuddled sister. So at last, he had the chance to meet someone from that place that Grandpa called Jurai. He had come here to confront the ones responsible for Ryoko's injury, but these two didn't seem to have any ill will.

Ayeka decided that since he possessed the Master Key, it would be safe to trust him. "Mr. Masaki,"

Tenchi blushed. "Don't call me that, it makes me sound like my dad. Just call me Tenchi."

"All right, Tenchi," she continued. "I don't mean to be impetuous, but our ship has crash-landed, and we need a place to wait for rescue. Could I trouble you to-"

Tenchi's face grew serious. "Actually, you gravely injured somebody when your ship crashed in front of my grandfather's shrine."

Ayeka gasped. "Oh my! Oh, if there's anything I can do . . ."

Tenchi continued. "Grandpa said that only someone with Jurai energy could heal her, and that I didn't know enough about it to help."

Ayeka smiled. It made sense. Since he had been able to activate the Tenchi-ken (strange that he had the same name as the blade), he must be from Jurai, but he must also be of the Royal Family. She knew no one of that name in her family, but Yosho had left with that sword. Those eyes, that voice . . . He must be Yosho's grandson!

She nodded. "I would be happy to assist your friend."

Sasami grinned from ear to ear. "I'll come too!"

The logs spoke in their automated voices. "Here we go."

Ayeka knew it. The man standing in front of the shrine had to be Yosho. The hair alone gave him away. The group had arrived back at the shrine.

"Yosho?" Ayeka inquired.

"It's me, Ayeka." he responded. He didn't sound too happy.

"Where have you been all this time, Yosho?!" she asked. "We were so worried about you back home! I even went on a journey in search of you, but we never managed to find you until-"

"That will have to wait, Ayeka." Yosho calmly stated. "Inside is the Jurai healing tank that used to be on my ship, but it cannot operate without Jurai energy. My power is gone, but I believe you know the procedure."

Ayeka provided her customary nod. "Yes, Yosho. Anything to help a friend of your grandson."

Yosho raised an eybrow. "Good."

As the logs waited outside and Yosho/Katsuhito/Grandpa, Ayeka, and Sasami headed inside, Tenchi was left outside utterly confused. Had he missed something?

Ayeka stormed out a few seconds later. She called back to the shrine "There is no way in hell that I'd help that she-devil!!"

As she marched off to the lake, logs in tow, the others were left with sweatdrops. Yosho turned to Sasami. "Sasami, would you mind?"

"Not at all!" she chirped and went back inside.

Yosho smiled at his discombobulated grandson. "Same old Ayeka."

As more time passed while Ryoko healed in the fluid tank, Yosho explained his past to Tenchi, how he had been a prince on Jurai and had chased Ryoko to Earth for attacking the palace, and how Tenchi had inherited his Jurai power and was now destined to become Crown Prince.

Ayeka began to become fond of Yosho's grandson, and Sasami found a "cyuuuuuute" friend in the energetic Ryo-Ohki. They became welcome house guests, but they all thought of the lonely girl in the healing tank, and awaited her awakening; some with anxiety, others with anticipation.

The prelude was almost over, and Act One was about to begin . . .

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


	5. Rainy Day

__

Episode 4: Rainy Day----------------

Morning had come once again. Yet, instead of the usual bright sunshine that awakened Tenchi Masaki in the morning, he heard the gentle tapping of rain on his window. He sat up with a groan and flexed his muscles, then pulled up the blinds to see the world that he knew so well. 

Winter had come, but because of unusually high temperatures, snow had yet to be seen. Faintly glowing clouds poured light rain on the mountains and re-nourished the land. The drops of moisture padded against the windowsill as Tenchi reflected on the peacefulness of the morning. It certainly didn't reveal the presence of two alien women in his house. Why stop there? Princess Ayeka and Princess Sasami weren't the only ones, considering that his grandfather, Yosho, was from the same planet, and that the carrot fields were under constant drain from Ryo-Ohki's eating habits.

Then he thought of Ryoko. When would the day come, the day when the beautiful space pirate would emerge from the healing tank powered by Sasami and fly into his arms once again, telling Tenchi how much she had missed him, and how she wanted to be by his side always . . .?

Tenchi laughed. His thoughts had gone way off track again. Ryoko wasn't like that. She would never be so open. 

Once he got ready for the day, Tenchi started to head downstairs. He didn't notice that Ryo-Ohki was eating a carrot there. He tripped over the cabbit and they both gave a yelp of surprise as they tumbled into the kitchen, and right on top of Ayeka.

"Heh . . .heh, oops." Tenchi stammered.

"Eeeek! Pervert!" Ayeka screamed as she shoved Tenchi to the other side of the room.

They started to notice that Sasami was doubled over in laughter. "Ryo-Ohki, haha, you should watch where you eat your carrots! Ha ha!"

The cabbit sighed with a bandage over its head. "Myia."

Ryoko sighed as she held up her hand to the sky and watched the rain fall right through. She had regained enough power to walk around in spirit form and watch the events of the Masaki household. She teleported into the kitchen just in time to hear Sasami cheer "Breakfast is ready!" 

Yosho smiled as he sat down to the table. "This is stupendous, Sasami! Who taught you how to cook?"

Sasami blushed. "Well, I'm kinda self-taught, but my mom taught me the basics."

"Don't be so modest, Sasami." Ayeka huffed. "You know Mother couldn't cook her way out of a paper bag."

Sasami gave Ayeka a disapproving look. "You're not one to talk, Ayeka."

"Right, heh . . .heh." Ayeka laughed.

Tenchi swirled the rice around in his mouth. This tasted strangely like Ryoko's recipe.

Ryoko herself watched despondently. Why did that bitch Ayeka have to land here, of all the places in the universe that she could have crashed? She remembered Ayeka from her early days on Jurai. Any attempt that she made to be happy, that snotty princess had to ruin it, even when it was in tribute to her! Ryoko caught herself. Hadn't Kagato held her in custody for her entire life? Her memories seemed to contradict each other. 

As for Sasami, Ryoko didn't remember seeing her, but she seemed nice enough. It was hard to believe that she and Ayeka were sisters, but Ryoko had to take her word for it.

As she watched the happy breakfast she wondered if her presence would ruin it. They looked like a real family, not one with a girl who was always destructive and getting hurt in return. They were complete, if unfamiliar. Ryoko couldn't remember her distant past; it was in fragments. Before Tenchi, she had never even known what love was, and she bumbled her way through it now.

She held her face in her hands. It was so hard to break away from her past. She wanted Tenchi to know how much he meant to her, and her warm, compassionate side would surface as a result: the real Ryoko. But she kept reverting back to the space pirate, the cold, ruthless killer. Her pride always got in the way, and her reputation had become too popular to give up.

She looked at Tenchi's smiling eyes. Was it even possible? Could a Jurai noble marry a roguish space pirate? Ryoko shook her head and astro-tears welled up in her eyes. No. Now that Ayeka had come, the Jurai royal family would surely hear about the boy and induct him into the palace, maybe even adopt him as heir to the throne.

She could see it now: Tenchi in the emperor's throne with Ayeka by his side, that's how it would work out. Ayeka had come to steal her joy once again. It was always that way.

Ayeka sat in the guest bedroom and sniffed the air. It still retained the stench of a space pirate. She couldn't believe that she had crossed paths with Ryoko again, just when she thought that Yosho had dealt with her long ago. 

She had searched for Yosho for a long time, and during that time she had never thought of visiting Colonized Planet #0315 on the outskirts of Jurai's kingdom. However, she took the time to mature, and to contemplate her love for Yosho. She had given up because of a conclusion she had reached. Yosho would have returned if he had had any feelings for her, so he must have been running from the conflict that would occur if he and Ayeka were to fight over the throne. 

She sniffed and gazed out the window at the strange planet called Earth. It was so much like Jurai, and yet so primitive. Did any of Earth's trees possess power, as did the Jurai Royal Trees? Ayeka shook her head. Of course not; the Jurai power was the only source of energy in the universe. 

The princess smiled and lay back on the bed. How lucky she was to be a part of the Royal Family, but what about her person? No one in the Royal Family really cared what she thought except for Sasami. Right now, she was just the First Crown Princess; her opinions, feelings, and personal life wouldn't really count until she became Empress of Jurai.

Then she had a thought. Come to think of it, this boy named Tenchi was part of the Royal Family, wasn't he? Tenchi seemed to be a very nice person, and would certainly be next in line for the emperor's throne were he to be discovered. If Tenchi were to become heir to the throne, and if she were to marry him, then she would become Empress! Then she would be heard, and have a very nice husband as well! 

She cackled to herself. When those two Galaxy Police officers finally arrived, maybe she could convince Tenchi to come with her . . .

Yosho sat in the office of the Masaki Shrine as he gazed outside at the beauty of nature. On days like this, the young ones would have nothing to do except contemplate their existence, and the old ones would observe the repeating cycles that they had often taken for granted.

He could feel Ryoko moving about in her astro-body. What must she be thinking? Her old rival had returned and caused her a life-threatening injury, and now she can only watch our reactions?

If Yosho knew Ayeka, then she must already feel drawn to his grandson, for political, personal, or both reasons. Tenchi was inexperienced in the ways of love and might even forget his feelings for Ryoko in favor of the beautiful princess. 

Then there was Sasami, with her cute personality and kind nature. What did Tenchi think of her? She was young and impressionable, but almost the perfect woman. Would Tenchi opt to wait for the younger girl?

Yosho laughed. That would surely throw a monkey wrench into whatever plans Ayeka had cooked up.

But Ryoko had gotten to him first, and though Tenchi was too shy to admit it, he did have feelings for her. Would Ayeka or Sasami have the strength, or even want to break that bond? Only time would tell.

Galaxy Police starships displayed a look that was all their own. The _Yagami_ was no exception. The GP ship was sleek and refined in appearance, with a crimson hull and two high-powered engines protruding from either side of its main body.

Inside its cockpit, the GP officers, Kiyone and Mihoshi, monitored their ship on its way to Earth. Well, one of them did, anyway.

Kiyone sighed and brushed back her long blue hair. "Would you quit falling asleep on the job, Mihoshi?"

The officer in question was already deep into a mission involving a rather large bubble expanding and receding from her nose and loud, raucous inhalations of O2.

"Mihoshi!" Kiyone growled.

Mihoshi sat bolt upright. "Wha-um-um, y-yessir, I- . . . oh, it's just you, Kiyone."

"What do you mean, 'just me'?" Kiyone responded. "I may not be a commander, but you are still on duty, and falling asleep is a direct violation of code 147b of the GP handbook!"

Her words were lost on the derelict Mihoshi as she had fallen asleep again. A scream ran through several GP com channels a few moments later.

The rain had stopped, and Tenchi was already being put to work, sweeping away leaves from the shrine steps. It was there that he met Ayeka. As she slowly made her way up the stairway, Tenchi turned and waved. "Hi, Miss Ayeka!"

Ayeka smiled. "Don't call me that, Lord Tenchi; it sounds so formal. Besides, the only reason that we have a place to stay is because of your generosity. Just call me Ayeka."

Tenchi smiled as well and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Sure."

As he continued sweeping, Ayeka hesitantly asked, "Um, I was wondering how to thank you for room and board, and-"

Tenchi turned. "There's no need for that."

"All the same," Ayeka continued. "Should you ever have need of it, we have with us a large sum of Terran currency. Now, let me see if I remember the amount . . ."

Tenchi almost jumped out of his sandals as Ayeka said, "Oh yes, I think we have 5 trillion yen."

Tenchi couldn't stop his mouth from hanging open. "Five trillion yen?!"

Ayeka feared the worst. "Is that large enough to sustain oneself?"

"You could sustain an underdeveloped nation with that much!"

Ayeka's smile returned. "Oh! That's good to hear! At least I know I have something to fall back on."

Tenchi face-faulted.

Ayeka continued. "Well, considering the amount of money we have, would it be all right if you and I go to one of your restaurants tonight?"

Tenchi adopted a hesitant look. "Well, um, I don't know if Grandpa would-"

"Oh, Yosho won't mind."

"Well, um, then I guess so . . ."

Ayeka clasped her hands. "That's great! I'll ask Father to look up a good restaurant!"

As she hurried off down the steps, Ryoko watched her. Since when did Noboyuki become her father?

Sasami was busy playing a video game with Ryo-Ohki when she saw Ayeka humming happily as she and Noboyuki flipped through a business guide (?).

"What's going on?" she asked.

Ayeka turned. "Tenchi and I are going out to eat tonight. Would you like to come?"

Sasami grinned from ear to ear. "Yeah! I'd love to see the Earth chefs' cooking style, and I bet there'll be a whole bunch of people to meet! Wow!"

Ryo-Ohki meowed a request as well, but Noboyuki shook his head. "Sorry, Ryo-Ohki. They don't allow pets, or whatever you are."

The cabbit looked downcast. Sasami gave her a hug. "Oh, don't be sad, Ryo-chan. I'll try and bring back their best carrot recipe!"

"Myia!!"

Yosho heard a knock on the shrine door. "Come in." he chimed.

Tenchi stepped into the office. "Grandpa, I have something to tell you."

Yosho smiled. "Well, out with it, Tenchi."

"Ayeka asked me to dinner tonight, why do you think that is?"

Yosho almost laughed. "I think she may have an eye for you, Tenchi."

Tenchi smiled. "Aww, quit kidding around, Grandpa."

Yosho stood up and posted the taxes for that month on his bulletin board. "I'm not kidding, Tenchi. After all, you have every quality of a Juraian noble. Maybe you have a more winning personality then you give yourself credit for."

Tenchi responded. "Well, in any case, do you think Jurai might want me to come back to the Royal Family?"

Yosho was suddenly serious. "If they knew of you, most definitely." He put a hand on Tenchi's shoulder. "However, when the time comes, do not make a hasty decision. There are many good reasons to be a part of the Jurai Royal Family, but there are also many good reasons not to be."

Tenchi nodded. "Thanks for the advice, Grandpa."

As soon as Tenchi got dressed up to go out to eat and received Ryo-Ohki's approving meow, he found that Ayeka had also hired a limousine service. It was sunset, and in front of the limousine stood the Juraian princesses, decked out in their finest jewelry. Tenchi smiled. They both were outrageously beautiful.

The three stepped into the limo, and it drove off towards Tokyo. Yosho stood on the shrine steps with a broom and smiled. "I hope that this is an enlightening experience for you, Tenchi."

Kiyone was about to drift off into dreamland herself. This cruising through space deal was downright boring; nothing ever happened on the way to somewhere. She listened to the rhythmic snoring of her partner, and then heard a beeping sound. She cleared the scanner display of offending trash and punched up the radar.

It displayed about fifty red dots heading toward Earth! She input a hail.

"This is the GP starship _Yagami_ to unidentified ships. Request identification, over."

The response was robotic. "This is GP Bioroid Squadron 14, over."

Kiyone gasped. What were they doing here? "State your destination and present objective, over."

"Course heading: Colonized Planet #0315. Primary Objective: Capture or kill Space Pirate Ryoko Case #8472. Secondary Objective: Destroy all accomplice ships and/or persons. Tertiary Objective: Eliminate all surrounding structures to eliminate possibility of reinforcements."

Kiyone gasped. "I order you to return to headquarters immediately. Ryoko's Galaxy Wanted file had been deleted!"

"Unable to comply. Command comes directly from Jurai. Ryoko's Galaxy Wanted file has been reinstated."

As Kiyone checked for Ryoko's gem signature, she located the Bioroids' heading: Tokyo, Japan. "Oh, hell! Wake up, Mihoshi! This is an emergency!"

Mihoshi yawned. "What is it, Kiyone?"

"We've got to stop a squadron of Bioroids from reaching Earth!" Kiyone shouted as she accelerated the _Yagami_'s engines to maximum speed. These Bioroids might well destroy Ryoko, but someone else may be in possession of the gems, and their tertiary objective could kill over a million innocent civilians. 

Kiyone knew that this could probably demote her to janitor, but with the Princesses of Jurai on that planet, she couldn't afford to take any chances.

Inside the limousine, the Master Key fell out of Tenchi's pocket. 

As he picked it up, Sasami asked, "Why did you bring that, Tenchi?"

Tenchi reclined after once again examining the gems embedded in the handle. "Just in case we run into trouble."

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


	6. No Need for Bioroids

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Episode 5: No Need for Bioroids----

_The GP Bioroid is the latest in civil defense and military strike technology created by GP scientists. The Bioroid is fundamentally an android that is designed to think like an officer. However, unlike a standard GP officer, Bioroids are totally inflexible when it comes to rules and regulations, and they maintain indifference, even when eliminating hundreds of outlaws. Their basic armament includes a standard issue grappling rifle and a high-powered military laser. They have been known to be upgraded with concussion missile launchers and lasers of even greater strength and accuracy for special missions involving Class A-5 or higher-ranked criminals. Malfunctions have never been known to occur._ - excerpt from GP Headquarters Online.

"Headquarters, I don't think you understand," Kiyone said over the comlink. "These Bioroids are heading for the correct target, but it's a densely populated civilian area. The tertiary objective will mean the deaths of over 5 million innocent people!"

"I'm sorry, Detective First Class," GP Headquarters responded. "These orders come straight from Jurai; there's nothing I can do."

Kiyone thought for a minute and reopened the link. "Doesn't Earth have missile defense weaponry?"

The officer at GPHQ seemed confused. "Yes, I believe they do."

"The _Yagami_'s missile tubes are fully loaded." Kiyone continued. "If we destroy the Bioroids before they reach Earth, then we can say that they were destroyed by Earth's military."

There was a pause, and then an answer. "That could work; good thinking Detective! That wouldn't postpone an attack forever, but it would stop the immediate threat and give us time to sort things out with the Jurai Royal Family. However, you'll have to strike within the Earth's missile range or it will look suspicious."

"What is that range?" Kiyone asked.

"Let me see," the officer replied. There were clicking sounds in the background. "Assuming Earth is well into the Computer Age, the estimated range comes out at 300,000km above the planet's atmosphere."

Kiyone smiled. Now something could be done. "Thanks, Commander. First Class Detective Kiyone out." With that she closed the comlink.

"All right, Mihoshi, set a course for-"

The blonde-haired detective was snoring once again. Kiyone grabbed a megaphone and placed it beside Mihoshi's ear. "Wake up, dammit!!"

Mihoshi fell out of her chair giving Kiyone a hurt look with her large blue eyes. "What was that for?"

Kiyone sat in her command chair. "I've already told you that this is an emergency and that millions of lives are at stake, and all you can do is sleep?! Free time is over, Mihoshi! We have a mission to fulfill, and I would really appreciate the help of a GP officer. Is there one onboard besides me?"

Mihoshi smiled and got into her chair, punching up a navigation display. "Detective First Class Mihoshi reporting for duty, sir!"

Kiyone's kinder expression returned. "Okay, Mihoshi. Line us up at 300,000km above the Earth's atmosphere facing the Bioroid squadron."

"Sure thing!" Mihoshi chimed.

Kiyone pressed a red button on the tactical console and announced, "This is Detective First Class Kiyone, authorization Blue Six/Alpha/Bodai/TC/Command Zero Zero A, load primary and secondary anti-spacecraft missile tubes."

The computer responded. "Authorization accepted." A rumbling shook the _Yagami_'s hull. "Missile tubes loaded and pressurized. Awaiting fire command."

"There, you like it?" asked Sasami, flashing her big, pink eyes. The master chef's eyes grew out of proportion theirselves and a smile grew on his aged face.

"This is stupendous! Absolutely delectable! Confoundingly scrumptious!" He leaned down. "It's good too. Who taught you to cook like this, er . . . What did you say your name was, little girl?"

Sasami giggled. "My name is Sasami, and I'm mostly self-taught."

Ayeka and Tenchi were having a ball watching Sasami outwit the master chefs and tasting the results. This established restaurant was famous for the best chefs in Japan (sorry, Iron Chef), and they had now been bested by a 10-year-old girl.

"It's not really surprising." Ayeka commented. "She is my little sister, and she does carry within her the blood of the Emperor Jurai-" She stopped suddenly when she recalled the incident in the Royal Tree Chamber. "Jurai . . ."

Tenchi was barely paying attention. Between the hilarious kabuki theatre and Sasami's cooking, he was well occupied. He also didn't notice that the Master Key was reacting to something.

Yosho had finished the evening prayers and now sat in the den with Noboyuki drinking some highly suspicious "tea". 

"Say," Noboyuki inquired. "Don't you think it's a pretty outrageous coincidence that all these aliens landed in our backyard?"

Yosho drank a shot glass and reloaded. "Coincidence? No. I sense a great plan at work here." He gave Noboyuki a serious look. "What bothers me is that I can't tell whose."

Ryoko stood in her astro-body on top of the shrine roof, gazing at the full moon that hung heavy in the sky. The Galaxy Police were on their way here; she could sense it. She hoped that they would be officers and not Bioroids, but she knew better. She hated it, but she couldn't protect Tenchi when they came for the gems. She saw the black silhouettes of the squadron against the moon.

_Please be safe, my dearest Tenchi._

"Swing her around!"

The _Yagami_ tailspinned in front of the Bioroid squadron and continued earthward on reverse thrusters. They began to enter the atmosphere, and the _Yagami_'s backside began losing paint.

Mihoshi's fingers flew nervously over the controls as Kiyone disengaged the manual safety lock. 

"Kiyone?" Mihoshi whimpered. "We can't stay ahead of the squadron for long at this rate!"

Kiyone smiled fiendishly. "I wasn't planning on staying ahead." She focused her targeting reticule on the leader and strung the Bioroids signatures together into a multiple target string. "Punch it, Mihoshi!"

Mihoshi had heard that command often enough to know what that meant. Reluctantly, she rammed the throttle to maximum. 

The _Yagami _ jumped from the sudden acceleration and orbs of flame appeared behind the boosters for a split second. Then the flames flew out as miniature Phoenixes and spiraled above the Earth as the _Yagami_ bolted straight into the middle of the Bioroid squadron. 

Kiyone groaned at the acceleration and tried to focus the targeting reticule. "Fire!"

She mashed the red trigger as they passed through the ranks of the squadron. Missiles and warheads blasted out of the _Yagami_'s tubes like exceptionally dangerous corks out of unnecessarily large bottles. They each followed their own targets and proceeded with a small chase before destroying said target.

Because of the group formation, the explosions were causing a chain reaction. The _Yagami _pulled out of the fiery cloud.

"We did it, Kiyone!" Mihoshi cheered.

Kiyone grimaced. "No, we didn't."

As they looked again, 30 Bioroids had survived. Twenty continued on to Earth, while the other ten headed straight for _Yagami_. 

Mihoshi gasped. "Oh, this is bad, Kiyone! Let's turn back right now!"

Kiyone growled and threw down her headset. She then stomped out of the bridge, calling back: "Take the controls, Mihoshi. I'm going out there in a Bio-Armor Suit."

It was night in Tokyo, and the shadowed buildings provided perfect cover for anyone in need of it. Unfortunately, the Bioroids were not so subtle. All 20 were lined up on top of a skyscraper and looked down on the city. The leader was beeping and clicking; scanning for the gem signature. It suddenly pointed at a high-class restaurant downtown.

"There."

The squadron blasted off in that direction, oblivious to the wondering eyes below.

The BAS began to emerge from the top of _Yagami_'s hull. It's apparent "head" was triangular at the bottom and rounded off at the top with a shining camera unit inside a green pane of glass that stretched from the bottom of the head section to the shoulders. The Bio-Armor Suit had a hulking stature, and carried a chain gun on the right arm, a scorpion missile launcher on the other.

Kiyone smiled as the Bioroids neared her ship. "Let's see who the next generation of officers will be."

The BAS blasted off the hull and soared straight at the group, firing off a salvo of missiles. Two were caught in the blast and exploded, while the rest rocketed out of the way.

"Come on!" Kiyone shouted as she whirled the mecha around and ripped another Bioroid to shreds with the chain gun.

Two more Bioroids grouped up behind her and began firing. Luckily, the lasers tore into the legs, which were of no use in space.

"You've got to do better than that!" Kiyone continued, firing off the rest of her missiles. Both Bioroids failed to evade and exploded. The other five started to fire at the _Yagami_.

Kiyone's BAS ejected its missile launcher and produced a blade from it's arm. The Bioroids were caught totally by surprise as the BAS cut the first two clean in half and riddled a third with high-density slugs. The survivors fired, but Kiyone had rocketed inside the _Yagami_'s shields.

Twin lasers emerged from the _Yagami_'s cannons, which vaporized the last two Bioroids. Kiyone turned. "You know, Mihoshi, we were supposed to use conventional weaponry."

Mihoshi's voice came over the comlink. "Oops."

Kiyone smiled. "No problem. At least you vaporized them." She began to rocket back towards the _Yagami_. "Set a heading for Earth's upper atmosphere and deploy a subspace net. We've got some Bioroid hunting to do."

Tsunami gazed into a viewing pool at the surviving Bioroids on their way to confront Tenchi. "Protect Sasami and Ayeka, Tenchi." she thought aloud. "Destiny has chosen to test you."

Tenchi was busy enjoying Sasami's food and the onstage entertainment while Ayeka attempted half-baked proposals, which were lost in the noise. Then, out of nowhere Tenchi heard a voice.

"Protect Sasami . . ."

The voice was so commanding that he was compelled to act. He hurtled himself across the table, grabbed Sasami's hand and yanked the shocked girl out of her seat.

"What's going on here, Tenchi?!" Ayeka cried.

A split-second later, five off-target lasers tore Sasami's seat to ribbons. Ayeka screamed and ducked under the table. Sasami took cover behind a counter. Amid the screaming and rushing of bodies, Tenchi saw several gleaming red eyes. 

The same voice that had emboldened him before now said: "Bioroids."

Tenchi pulled out the Master Key and activated it. The blue light blade shot out of the hilt like a meteor, summoning the attention of the GP machines.

"Who are you?" Tenchi shouted, disregarding the voice in his head. 

The response was robotic. "Are you the Space Pirate Ryoko?"

Tenchi gasped. Yet another space alien had mistaken him for Ryoko. He looked in a mirror to reassure himself that his hair had not spiked up and been dyed green during the day.

The Bioroid seemed to think that question time was over. It fired a laser at Tenchi that would have been impossible for a human to block. Then again, Tenchi wasn't entirely human. The blade flew at an impossible speed and collided with the laser, sending a shower of sparks in every direction. The shot ricocheted off several structures before grounding out in a stove, which immediately exploded. Ayeka grabbed Sasami and ushered her out of the diner.

Tenchi was angry. What right did these machines have to burst in on a happy dinner and attack he and his friends while mistaking him for a space pirate? None.

Tenchi lowered the blade slowly and pulled into the sword-fighting stance that his grandfather had honed to perfection. The Bioroids readied their blasters while an insane band member started up a techno theme on the synthesizer, taking advantage of the publicity. Tenchi glared at the Bioroids and placed the Master Key at a parallel angle to his face. "Let's dance."

He dashed at the five Bioroids with unbelievable speed and cut the leader in half on the go. The other four turned to face him, but he was too skilled. Tenchi preformed a controlled roll under the Bioroids, keeping his torso above the floor and putting extreme strain on his arm muscles. He then swung the blade under two more Bioroids. They fell to the ground and exploded, legless. 

The other two rocketed upward to the roof where they had made their entry. Tenchi dashed upward, leaping off the ceilings and desks of the office floors above. He emerged out of the building in perfect fighter's stance and then faltered with a whimper. He was surrounded by 17 Bioroids with blasters leveled. Tenchi laughed nervously. "No chance we could talk this out? Heh, heh."

The robots never got the chance to fire. The crowd below that surrounded the ruined restaurant gaped in awe at the huge red starship that swooped over head. It came so close to the building's top that the shock wave of its approach blew all those standing atop it off into the air. As Tenchi hovered through the air and saw the solid ground below, he let go of his breath. So this was it. His crazy life was to be cut short by a piloting error. How fitting.

Suddenly, a ball of light encircled him, and he found himself on the bridge of the _Yagami_. A blue-haired officer grabbed him by the lapels of his tuxedo.

"What do you think you're doing?!" she inquired.

"What do you mean? I was just going out to dinner and-"

Kiyone pulled the Master Key from his hand. "Just going out to dinner, with Ryoko's gems and the Master Key of Jurai? Who do you think you're fooling?"

"Kiyone," Mihoshi commented. "Aren't you being too rough?"

Kiyone let go of Tenchi's clothes and brushed her hair back with frustration. "All right, what are you doing with the Master Key, and why are Ryoko's gems in its hilt?"

Tenchi looked serious. "I don't have time to tell you the story, but the Juraian princesses are down there with the Bioroids. Don't you think we should pick them up first?"

Kiyone gasped. "How could I have forgotten?!" Then she looked at Mihoshi. "Of course."

She whirled into her command chair and started pressing buttons in a rapid flurry of activity. "Mihoshi, bring us around. I'm locking onto their bio-signatures."

Kiyone then looked out of the viewport. "That's strange."

Tenchi looked as well. "What's strange?"

Kiyone frowned. "Damn, the Bioroids have gone into secondary protocol mode. They find a place to conceal themselves and wait for orders from command. We'll never find them at this-" 

The control panel started to beep. Kiyone entered another series of commands. "I've locked onto Princess Ayeka and Princess Sasami's bio-signatures. _Yagami_, beam them aboard."

While the ship was in the process of completing its task, Kiyone ordered, "Get us into orbit as soon as they're aboard, Mihoshi. We've already crossed the line by coming within visual range. We can't let any Earthlings know that this isn't just another military test."

"Then what are you going to do about me?" Tenchi asked. 

Kiyone groaned. "One problem at a time!"

Inside GP Headquarters, several displays floated around the central command core. One of the displays flashed red, and an officer called it down to his station. He turned around in his command chair and reported, "Commander, the Bioroid squadron that we sent to Earth has been decimated by some unknown force and they request backup."

The commander frowned. "Send the prototype."

The officer's eyes twitched for a second before he entered the command. "Prototype Bioroid Alpha dispatched."

'Kiyone and Mihoshi,' the commander thought to himself. 'They'll be sorry that they interfered this time . . .'

Washu opened her emerald-hued eyes. That shining blue jewel called Earth was drawing ever closer. Why was her prison crystal being drawn here? She knew the answer. 

'Why do you call for me, Funaho?'

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


	7. Battle in Tokyo

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Episode 6: Battle in Tokyo

The moon hung in the sky like a jeweled ornament while the city of Tokyo tried to determine the cause of the chaos earlier that night. Their minds would have been doubly confused if they had been able to see the sinister shape in the upper stratosphere. The shady object gleamed with a metallic glow. As the sun rose in the east, the hideous thing was silhouetted with sharp colors of contrast. It was humanoid in shape, but sprouted long sickle claws on both hands and rocket boosters on its feet. Over its back were slung two high-power laser pulse rifles, while a wide assortment of armaments had been wrapped around its steel waist.

Its eyes flashed a sinister green as the sun climbed over the horizon. The prototype Bioroid's first mission was about to begin. The target: Tenchi Masaki, charged with two counts of interference with the law, one count petty theft, and three counts willful destruction of government property. This strange Earthling was considered skilled, armed, and extremely unpredictable.

If the machine could have smiled, it would have. It thought to itself using its advanced AI. 'A perfect target . . .'

"This is just crazy." Kiyone speculated while sipping hot tea in the Masaki living room.

All people involved with the Tokyo incident reclined on chairs sipping various drinks, except for Mihoshi who was snoring on the couch.

Kiyone leaned forward. "How in the world did all you people come together just by coincidence?" She looked around the room to reassure herself that she wasn't dreaming. "I can understand how you, Legendary Warrior Yosho, came here, and how your grandson can use the Master Key." She turned again. "And it's a little far-fetched, but I can see how Princess Ayeka and Princess Sasami ended up here." Her expression turned to disgust. "But how can you live with that . . . Space Pirate Ryoko?!"

Ryo-Ohki bounced across the living room and hopped into Kiyone's lap. Kiyone looked uncomfortably at the cabbit that purred like a car engine. "And what is this thing? It's following me everywhere!"

Sasami smiled and giggled. "That's just Ryo-Ohki! She likes new people, that's all."

This was still sort of a shock to the blue-haired police officer. "Right . . ."

Tenchi leaned forward in a rocking chair. "It doesn't really matter how we all came to be here," He glared at Kiyone. "Or what our pasts are. What we need to know is what to do with those Bioroids."

Kiyone looked strangely at him. How did he know what a Bioroid was? She dismissed it. 

"All right, listen up," she began. "The Bioroids have gone into standby mode. This means that they're hiding somewhere in the city, waiting for orders from command." She pulled out a computer pad and began crunching numbers. "If my guess is right, command will probably send reinforcements and then select you, Tenchi, as their next target."

Tenchi stood up in surprise. "What?! Me? Why?"

Kiyone clenched her fist. "It's another damn priority configuration. If someone interferes with a mission's main objective, he or she becomes the primary target, and the original target takes a backseat until you're eliminated."

Tenchi slammed his fist on the arm of his chair. "Damn."

Ayeka gazed at the coffee table. "Lord Tenchi . . ."

Yosho set his cup of sake down and spoke. "You're all taking this the wrong way. Isn't it better that the Bioroids chase a target that is fully capable of defending himself than to chase an incapacitated one?"

Kiyone smiled. "You're right! At least this way we have a better chance!"

Yosho smiled. "You're a very spirited woman, Kiyone, unlike your partner, who has a, um . . ." He looked at Mihoshi as she drooled on the couch pillow in sleep. "Definite lack of such."

Ayeka stood up. "Wait a minute!"

Everyone turned. 

"We don't have to defend ourselves at all!" she continued.

"What do you mean?" Sasami asked.

Ayeka stretched out her arms. "We can just turn in Ryoko! After all, her crimes haven't gone unnoticed. She deserves her fate!"

"Stop it, Ayeka!" Tenchi shouted.

Everyone turned once again with mouths open. No one had ever seen Tenchi like this.

Tenchi gripped the Master Key so hard that it seemed as if it were about to break. "You keep on slandering her and calling her 'space pirate' and 'devil woman'! You don't even know her! I-" A vision returned to him of Ryoko saving him from the Ryu-Oh. Tears started to well in his eyes. "She almost gave her life for me. She's no devil woman; she's a lonely girl." 

The tip of the key began to glow. "I won't let her die."

Ayeka nodded slowly. "I understand."

Kiyone threw a pillow at Mihoshi, prodding her to consciousness. The blonde girl rubbed her eyes and yawned. "What is it, Kiyone? What did I miss?"

Everyone turned to the sound of the screen door being shoved open and Noboyuki dashing into the living room. He pointed in the direction of the shrine. "Everyone, Ryoko' life signs are beginning to fade!"

Sasami didn't know the woman in the healing tank, but she still cried in her sister's lap. Ryoko hung almost lifelessly in the liquid of the cylindrical healing tank, being supported only by an oxygen mask. Yosho was pressing buttons on a nearby keypad. 

"Hmm," he speculated. "Her injuries are much worse than I had at first thought." 

"What do you mean, Grandpa?" Tenchi inquired.

Yosho frowned. "Sasami's Jurai power was enough to heal her physical wounds, but that's not the problem." He brought up a diagram of Ryoko's body in green wire frame. Running throughout her body was a strange gray matter. 

"What is that?" Ayeka wondered.

"Astro-body material." Yosho explained. "I've only seen it implemented a few times, but not to this extent. It's what allows Ryoko to heal herself and regenerate lost limbs." He punched up a series of graphs. "According to this, the astro-body material has suffered a great reduction. She's lost over half of it."

Sasami gasped.

"With only this much material," Yosho continued, "She can't survive."

Tenchi made a fist and clenched it. As if there weren't enough problems already.

Ryo-Ohki bounded in from outside just as an explosion rocked the shrine. Tenchi dashed outside and stopped himself on a support post. There were the remaining Bioroids, lined up in a menacing row of 17. Facing them were Kiyone and Mihoshi with blasters drawn.

One of the robots spoke. "This does not compute. Identity confirmed: Detectives First Class Kiyone and Mihoshi, Assignment Protocol: Protect Princess Ayeka and Sasami." It shifted in position. "Stand aside. The one called Tenchi Masaki is in that building. He must be arrested."

Kiyone clicked a charge into the pistol barrel. "Not on your life."

Mihoshi sported a rather large sweatdrop.

The Bioroid brought its laser to bear. "You are terminated."

Tenchi lunged forward, activated the Master Key, and threw it. The light sword whirled through the air like a discus and cut the Bioroid into pieces. Tenchi caught it on the backspin and smiled. "There, that makes it 16 even."

The rest of the Bioroids brought their lasers up, but then stopped upon seeing Princess Ayeka exit the shrine.

If the next lead Bioroid could have looked confused . . . you get the idea. "Princess Ayeka, stand aside. We must arrest these criminals."

Ayeka stood arms akimbo. "By decree of the Jurai Royal Family, I order you to cease and desist all activities involving Colonized Planet #0315 and return to Galaxy Police Headquarters immediately."

"We cannot follow that order." the Bioroid responded.

Ayeka looked indignant. "Why not?"

"Our previous orders come from the Emperor of Jurai. His authority supersedes your own."

Ayeka frowned. "All right, you may carry out your mission, but you must do it at a later time."

The Bioroid was puzzled. "Why is that?"

"You idiot! If you started a fight right here, my sister and I could be hurt in the crossfire!"

All of the Bioroids formed large sweatdrops. "Oh."

Ayeka smiled. This was working. "You shall wait until 1800 hours tonight and attack these vile criminals-"

Kiyone turned. "Watch it."

Ayeka continued. "You shall attack these people at that time, do I make myself clear?"

The Bioroids spouted a quick "Yes, ma'am." and then rocketed back towards the city.

Ayeka turned towards the others. "Well, now we have some time to prepare."

Kiyone sheathed her blaster and turned to Ayeka and the others who were standing near the shrine steps. "Actually, Ayeka, I don't think that you, Sasami, or Yosho should get involved."

"Why not?! Tenchi's in danger!" Ayeka exclaimed.

Kiyone pushed her headband up. "There's a chance that all of the people who fight the Bioroids will become convicted felons, myself and Mihoshi included. They're already after Tenchi's head, so we don't need our only connections to the Jurai Royal Family cut off! It's the only way that we can get a pardon if we get convicted."

Ayeka nodded regretfully. "I understand." 

Kiyone began to walk towards the place where they had hidden the _Yagami_. "Come on, Mihoshi. We need to set up some stuff for tonight."

As they walked off and Ayeka, Sasami, Ryo-Ohki, and Noboyuki made their way towards the house, Yosho put a hand on Tenchi's shoulder. "I'm sorry that I can't help you in your upcoming battle."

Tenchi turned around. "It's all right Grandpa; this isn't your fault." He looked towards the shrine. "I have to be the one to protect Ryoko, even if she is dying."

Yosho smiled. "Ah, I see! So you've already chosen your bride, eh Tenchi?"

Tenchi's face practically glowed red and he flailed about with his arms. "No! Nothing like that, Grandpa! She just saved my life; that's all!"

Yosho laughed. "Sure, Tenchi, whatever you say. (snigger)" He motioned toward the newly regrown cherry blossom path. "On a more serious note, though, I feel that I must teach you a few more advanced techniques with that sword. After all, this isn't one-on-one."

Tenchi smiled in the _Yagami's_ direction. "I think that Mihoshi and Kiyone are working on evening those odds."

Kiyone was examining the fuel meter on her Bio-Armor Suit. "Just great." she moaned. The thing had dropped to almost empty from the last battle.

"Mihoshi, do we have any extra fuel containers?" she called into the ship. 

From somewhere in the corridors, Mihoshi called back: "Nope, we forgot to restock at Headquarters."

Kiyone grumbled. "You mean **you **forgot."

She gave up on the suit and started making plastic explosives. After a while, she began to wonder why she hadn't heard Mihoshi trip on anything. Kiyone got up to ascertain her partner's whereabouts. 

"Mihoshi!" she called. "Where are you, Mihoshi? Did you fall asleep agai-"

Mihoshi ran straight into her from a side corridor. As they picked themselves up off the floor, Kiyone groaned. "Where were you?" 

Mihoshi pulled out a rather large laser pistol. "Well, when you said to go find some weapons, I remembered that I bought this thing a while ago at Headquarters. What do you think?"

Kiyone gaped in awe. "This is an L3-X Eliminator! How did you afford this Mihoshi?"

Mihoshi smiled. "From change that I picked up out of the couch!"

Kiyone was dumbfounded. Foresight was not usually one of Mihoshi's strong points. "Well, it's perfect Mihoshi. This will really come in handy!"

Tenchi leaned against a maple tree and watched his grandfather. The sword training area was a circular patch of clear ground with short, thin wood stumps that served to practice balance. The practice target, a stick of wood, hung by a thread from a high-up tree branch

"So Grandpa," Tenchi stated after watching his Grandfather stand in the same place for almost 15 minutes. "What's the sword technique that you wanted to show me?"

Yosho spoke with his eyes closed and one hand holding the Master Key in front of his face. The other was held in a diagonal position, hovering just beyond the hilt. "Patience is a virtue, Tenchi."

Tenchi smirked. "Come on, Grandpa. If the technique takes this long to work, then it's of no use at all."

Yosho opened one eye slightly. "That's not why I'm waiting."

Tenchi stood apart from the maple. "Then why?"

Yosho sighed. "My Jurai power is not what it used to be. It takes a while to charge up." He smiled. "You could accomplish this in seconds."

Suddenly, the light blade shot out of the hilt. Tenchi could never get used to the chi vibration or the resulting hum. Yosho raised the blade over his head and posed. The hilt began to shake and small lightning bolts came out of the handle. 

Tenchi stepped back. What was his grandfather trying to do?

Yosho started a slow chant and the blade started to draw energy into the violet claws on either side of the handle. The suction grew faster and faster while the blade grew brighter and brighter. Then, without warning, the carvings on the handle came to life and reconfigured into a longer hilt. It was as long as a staff! Then the energy blade focused and stretched into a scythe. Tenchi gasped in awe. What was the purpose of the scythe?

The question remained unanswered as Yosho exhausted himself and stopped the chant. The sword returned to normal shape and deactivated. 

Tenchi stepped forward. "What was that, Grandpa?"

Yosho gave him a serious look. "That was the Armor One Transformation Technique."

Tenchi was confused. "Armor One?" He then looked at his grandfather's clothes. Tenchi had been looking at the Master Key so much that he had failed to notice a change in apparel. His grandfather usually wore a white shirt with baggy, light blue pants. Those pants had shortened and changed to black. His grandfather also looked a little younger. These changes soon faded also.

"What's going on?" Tenchi asked.

"Every member of the Jurai family is capable of a certain transformation. The Master Key can reconfigure itself to match the energy of the transformation, and therefore amplify its own strength."

Yosho fished an object out of his shirt and handed it to Tenchi. It was a necklace consisting of ten white jewels. 

Tenchi looked at them with wonder. "What are these?"

Yosho looked at the sky. "I really don't know. You see, when you were born, your father called me from the hospital. When the call was finished, I went back into my study and these gems had simply appeared." His face became serious once more. "When I consulted the spirit fire, I was told that these jewels hold a great power, but can only be used by one person in the universe: the one who is man and yet Jurai. Since neither I nor your mother could use this, it must belong to you."

Tenchi put the necklace around his neck and stuffed the diamonds into his shirt. 

Yosho smiled. "I guess you could say that these are the family jewels."

Both broke out laughing, and didn't notice that the jewels had contracted into a cluster in the center of the necklace . . .

At 5:00 that afternoon, everyone was glued to the TV screen. The news was showing a large, menacing robot that looked similar to a Bioroid, surrounded by the 16 survivors of the previous fights.

The newscaster was nervously reporting what little he knew. "This strange machine appeared this morning on top of the Jyuben Dream Mall. It has remained motionless for most of the day, but was interviewed by reporters with a single question: 'Who are you?'"

The robot's voice came on the speaker. "I wait for Tenchi Masaki. If he is not here by dawn, I will destroy this entire city." It turned to look directly into the lens. "I'm waiting."

It was 5:50, and night was approaching quickly. Kiyone revved up a motorcycle that had been resting in the Masaki garage for God knows how long. The Eliminator was strapped to her back along with a backpack filled with plastic explosives. Both her and Mihoshi's GP pistols were clamped to her belt.

Tenchi climbed on the back end, armed with the Master Key and a spare pistol. Kiyone put on the motorcycle helmet and clicked down the visor while Tenchi folded his arms around her thin waist. Kiyone blushed a little under the helmet.

"Okay," Kiyone stated. "We're going into Tokyo to take care of the Bioroids and this new guy who's shown up on top of the mall. We'll probably be attacked on the way, so have that blaster ready."

"Got it!" Tenchi responded.

Kiyone pulled the throttle and the pair on the motorcycle sped off into the darkness.

Yosho turned to Mihoshi and the others who were standing outside. "Mihoshi, prepare the _Yagami_ for takeoff."

"But why?" Mihoshi inquired.

"If they fail and the Bioroids come here, I want everybody out of here." He brandished a new _katana_. "I'll have to do battle with them then."

Deep in the forest behind the Masaki Shrine lay the broken halves of a gigantic crystal. A naked woman who appeared to be around the age of fourteen wandered clumsily through the brush. Only her bright magenta hair could be seen as she ventured in the direction of the shrine. She was muttering something to herself.

"Too damn cold, just too damn cold . . ."

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


	8. The Gem Factor

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Episode 7: The Gem Factor

_I then saw a large number of orbs, each its own world, numbering too many to count. In the middle of the group, they were packed close together. These "close ones" shined brightly with a power that I did not know. Then, there were those on the outside of the group. They were far apart from each other, and did not shine at all. They were lifeless._

It occurred to me that this must be the universe, and I was suddenly alarmed. The shining worlds began fading and disappearing; they were being destroyed. The world at the center of the "close ones" shot off many motes of light into the growing darkness. Each time a light ball hit the darkness, it would recede, but only a little. In this strangest of battles, it seemed as if the darkness were going to win.

Then, a dull world began to move towards the group and grew steadily brighter. As it grew closer, I saw a strange sword that was moving in front of it. The actual blade was twisted yet sharp, and light energy filled the rest of it so that it appeared to be a whole blade. 

The formerly dull orb was now brighter than all of them, blindingly bright. It now stood beside the center world, and the darkness was retracting. Worlds were beginning to shine again. 

I then woke up, not knowing what to make of my dream. However, I felt relief, for when the universe would be in danger, not all would be lost.

- Excerpt from "Dream Chronicle", a collection of Juraian prophecies.

"What's that noise?"

"Sounded like an explosion!" 

"From where?"

"The bridge! Look at that!"

"Who are they?"

"Never mind them! What are those things chasing them?!"

The buildings on the Tokyo side of the bridge were wrapped in confusion.

"To your left!" Kiyone shouted.

The Bioroid crawled with unbelievable speed from under the bridge, chasing after the motorcycle. Tenchi aimed his pistol from the back of the bike and fired off two shots. The lasers tore into the pavement as more Bioroids bulled their way through cars, shooting lasers all over the place.

The Tokyo inbound bridge was aglow with flaming cars and laser ricochets. Kiyone was doing her best to dodge traffic at 70 mph while Tenchi provided rear guard on the back seat of the motorcycle. So far, they'd only managed to eliminate two careless robots. The other 14 were matching the motorcycle's speed, oblivious to incoming traffic. A laser zipped right by Tenchi, cutting his loose orange jacket sleeve.

"Dammit!" Kiyone growled. "This isn't working!"

Tenchi growled as more of his shots missed. "No kidding!"

Kiyone glared into oncoming traffic and frowned. "Tenchi?"

Tenchi returned to facing forward. "What?"

"I'm going to try something totally insane."

"What's that?!"

"I don't have time to tell you. When I say 'go', grab the throttle and swing into the driver's seat."

Tenchi gave her a crazy look as more lasers whooshed by. "Won't that tip the bike over?!"

Kiyone smiled. "Trust me."

Tenchi groaned and put his hand in a ready position.

Kiyone finally reached a clear spot and yelled: "Go!"

People in their cars couldn't believe their eyes. In the strangest form of midair ballet yet, Tenchi leapt from his seat and clutched the throttle, swinging himself counter-clockwise on the right side of the bike so that his face was two inches from the ground, screaming the entire time.

Kiyone had left her seat as well, swinging over and above the left side with her legs folded under her, holding the bike in balance with Tenchi's weight. She turned just as Tenchi had slung his leg over the side by hoisting himself up on the throttle, and grabbed his belt buckle.

"What?!" Tenchi exclaimed.

With a flick of her wrist while still in midair, the belt came undone and off of Tenchi's waist. She landed back to back with Tenchi and quickly looped the belt around herself and the startled boy, securing herself to the bike.

"What are you doing?!" Tenchi shouted as he tried to avoid traffic at a greater pace.

Kiyone smiled. "Seat belt; it's the law."

She was readying the Eliminator given to her by Mihoshi when Tenchi cranked the throttle and said, "Uh-oh."

Kiyone turned her head as another volley of lasers barely missed. "What's 'uh-oh'?"

Tenchi almost panicked. "I think I broke the throttle with my swing! It's stuck on 90 mph!"

Kiyone cocked the gun. "Hope you're a good biker, kid."

Tenchi gulped.

Kiyone leveled the blaster at the oncoming horde. "Eat this, bastards!"

The gun glowed with power and flared with energy, then groaned and began to tick.

Kiyone gave it a weird look. "What the hell?!"

The control panel on the gun's barrel read: "Overload."

Kiyone hurled the gun at the mass of Bioroids. It instantly exploded in a massive shower of pavement and Bioroid parts. When the dust cleared, there appeared to be ten Bioroids left.

Kiyone had that same strange look on her face as she growled. "Mihoshi . . ."

Back at the Masaki shrine, a harsh wind had begun to blow, spreading the fallen leaves of autumn everywhere. Yosho's hair blew wildly in the gust as he hurried his family to the _Yagami_. 

"Hurry everyone!" he instructed.

Ayeka and Sasami rushed into the ship, followed closely by Ryo-Ohki. 

Yosho looked up into the night sky, which had become tumultuous and warped. Storm clouds blotted out the stars with unnatural speed, and an evil omen spread across the land with the wind. 'This storm isn't natural.' Yosho thought.

Suddenly, a short, naked woman with wild magenta hair that spiked out all over the place fell out of the bushes. Yosho looked strangely at her for a moment. She looked sort of familiar. He had seen her somewhere, though she had been clothed at the time. At the moment, she was out cold face down in front of him. 

Yosho clicked on the GP communicator given to him and shouted above the wind. "Mihoshi! Leave without me!"

Mihoshi's voice was mixed with static in her reply. "But what if the Bioroids come back again?"

Yosho smiled and waved at what he assumed to be the cockpit. "I'll be fine. Just make sure to activate the subspace net as soon as you re-enter Earth's radar range."

In the cockpit of the _Yagami_, Mihoshi looked worried, but still smiled her usual "I don't understand a word you just said but I'll give it my best shot" smile. "Sure thing!"

The landing thrusters of the _Yagami_ fired and created an instant clearing in the woods where it had been hidden. Sasami pressed her face to a window and mouthed "Be safe." before the breaking thrusters blasted forth a huge jet of flame and the _Yagami_ was instantly lost from view. 

Yosho took off his jacket and wrapped it around the unconscious woman. He then proceeded to pick her up and head back towards the shrine. He smiled and looked down at the nearly frozen girl in his arms. 'Welcome, Professor Washu.'

Tenchi's scream could be heard for miles as the speeding motorbike leapfrogged car after car in the Tokyo traffic jam. It was too dangerous to utilize the plastic explosives, so Kiyone was using her twin GP laser pistols to deal well-aimed blasts to the Bioroid horde. The offending robots weaved their way in-between, under, and through cars in their attempt to get a good shot at the surprisingly nimble targets that Tenchi and Kiyone turned out to be. The robots continued to leap off buildings and hurl themselves at the biker pair as people in their cars were faced with the difficult choice of running for cover, or staying in their cars for fear of the Bioroid masses.

Tenchi checked his watch at a glance and quickly realized that he was running out of time. It was only a quarter of an hour till midnight. If he didn't reach the Jyuben Dream Mall in time, the Prototype Bioroid would destroy Tokyo! Tenchi had a weird thought. How come every superhuman monster seemed to gravitate towards Tokyo? He dismissed it. 

Kiyone's hair, aim, and stability, among other things, shook wildly with the bike. "Tenchi?! Are you sure you know the way to the Dream Mall?!" she shouted over the din.

"Pretty much!" Tenchi replied. 

Kiyone fired off the two GP pistols and caught a Bioroid in the head-mounted visual camera. The lens shattered and the Bioroid tumbled into traffic and exploded. "What?! Pretty much?!"

Tenchi was trying to concentrate on whatever steering was possible. "I've only been there a few times before, but I think I remember the way. Don't worry!"

Kiyone pressed a blaster to her forehead on its side. "Somebody kill me."

Tenchi smiled. "Be careful what you wish for."

The raging battle across the streets continued.

At exactly 11:59 p.m., the Prototype Bioroid observed the intrepid pair park their badly torn motorcycle outside of the deserted mall in an equally deserted parking lot. Tenchi and Kiyone grabbed their weapons, Tenchi retrieved his belt, and they rushed inside. The nine remaining Bioroids broke off their attack and scampered up the side of the building. They landed in front of the glowing mechanical monster that was the prototype.

It spoke in its dark, seething voice. "Station yourselves at advantageous sniper positions and await my command." It swung its view to the rooftop door and whirled the two gigantic laser pulse rifles from its back. It swung its elbows in, cocked the guns, and aimed at the door, its red cloak billowing in the breeze. "I'm ready."

"Lord Yosho, I'd just like to thank you again for taking me in like this." 

Yosho handed Washu another cup of hot tea and smiled. "No thanks needed, Washu. No person in their right mind would leave a pretty young lady like yourself out in the woods."

The magenta-haired Washu blushed. "Flatterer."

Yosho looked at the ceiling. "How long has it been since we last met? Two-hundred? Three-hundred years?"

Washu laid the cup down on the table and frowned thoughtfully while swathed in blankets. "I'm sure it was at the Juraian science festival."

Yosho laughed. "Whatever year it was, I can still remember how we met."

Washu put her face in her hands. "Yeah, I accidentally blew up your limo. You were the one who pardoned me."

Yosho smiled his "perverted Noboyuki" smile. "Only because I thought you were cute."

They both laughed.

"More seriously though, Washu." Yosho resumed. "We have a problem."

Washu sipped her tea. "Let me guess. Bioroids?"

"How did you know, Washu?"

"I saw them on entry orbit. The part about their association with you I derived from my reason for being here."

Yosho gazed at the lake. "Funaho?"

Washu stared also. "You guessed it."

"Yes, she has been acting strange lately. She teleported the Tenchi-ken from my room, has caused strange visions, and now you . . . Washu?"

Washu snapped out of an alternative train of thought. That word: Tenchi. It was the name of a sword of course, but it reminded her of something else. No, someone. 

'Good morning, Little Washu!'

'A boy who can make the wings of the Lighthawk, huh? I want to make him mine!'

'Would you like to be my guinea pig, guinea pig, guinea pig . . .-'

"Washu, are you all right?" Yosho inquired.

Washu turned to attention. "Ryoko?"

Yosho sat back up. "What about her?"

"Didn't you just say 'Ryoko'?"

Yosho gave Washu a weird look. "Not that I can recall. But she is here."

"Where?!" Washu demanded.

Kiyone clenched her two pistols and leaned against the rooftop door. "Ready?"

Tenchi pulled out the Master Key. "Sure thing."

Kiyone went into a ready position and undid the clasp on her backpack. "On the count of three."

She blew the lock off the door with her pistols. "Three!" The backpack filled with explosives flew through the air and landed in two startled Bioroids arms, putting them out of commission. Kiyone's blue hair whirled about her head as she rolled out of the door and fired the pistols. The blasts caught another Bioroid and hurled him from the building.

Tenchi activated the light blade and jumped from the doorway, blocking a laser meant for Kiyone's backside. He then focused his energy into the Master Key just like his grandfather had taught him. Slowly, the Jurai armor surrounded him. First, the steel headband with the two orange plates. Battle stripes appeared on his face and his T-shirt and jeans changed into a black, brown, and white war suit with black boots and gloves. The Tenchi-ken elongated before his eyes into that same scythe-like weapon that his grandfather had shown him.

Two more Bioroids leapt at him and extended blades from their arms. Tenchi whirled the laser scythe above is head in a mighty glittering battle arc. "Come and get me!"

The scythe whipped through the robot's bodies like magic, almost as if it were the most natural, easy action in the world. 

Kiyone watched awestruck. What power.

The last four Bioroids soared through the night sky and fired off shot after shot. The Blue Shield Wings sprang forth and obliterated their attempts. Tenchi focused the wings at the end of the scythe and swung at the airborne Bioroids. The four wings caught the machines and ripped them to shreds, then disappeared.

"That was great!" Kiyone shouted. "But where's the prototype?"

It was behind her. Two sickle claws sprang forth and impaled the Galaxy Police officer. Kiyone was dead before she hit the ground.

Tenchi turned to see Kiyone's fallen, bleeding corpse and the evil shadow that had accomplished the dire deed. Bolts of pure lightning surged through the Master Key as Tenchi howled, "You'll pay, bastard!"

The Prototype smiled. "Bring it on."

"Oh my." Washu whispered as she circled Ryoko's healing tank.

Yosho shook his head. "As you can see, Washu, we haven't been able to heal her. Is there anything you can do?"

Washu turned. "Where are the gems?"

Yosho looked confused. "Gems?"

Washu sighed. "The ones that were on her wrists. Where'd they go?"

Yosho hit his palm with his fist. "Oh, that's right! I stole them and put them in the Master Key."

Washu gave him a dubious look. "Where's the Master Key?"

Yosho sighed. "In Tokyo."

Washu opened up a computer terminal out of nowhere and began crunching numbers. "I was told that you had a talent for making things difficult, now I know it's true."

Tenchi leaped high in the air, swinging the scythe high in the air and yelling the Masaki battle cry. The Prototype swung his cannons to bear and fired. Tenchi took a direct hit from two huge laser pulses, which exploded, on impact. It could be seen for miles. Tenchi hit the pavement and just barely dodged another two shots. 

Tenchi went into a circling run, ducking and blocking the laser shots with the scythe. 

The Prototype spoke. "Just what seems to be the problem, Tenchi Masaki?"

Tenchi dove to the ground and hurled the laser scythe. It sliced one of the Prototype's hands off which promptly exploded on the ground, along with one of the pulse rifles. The scythe whirled back around like a boomerang, stopping in Tenchi's gloved hand. "Nothing at all."

The Prototype laughed. "Clever." 

From the remains of the hand sprouted a chain gun.

Tenchi's face fell. "Oh, shit."

The Prototype laughed maniacally as he bulldozed the buildings that rested on the rooftop of the mall in an angled attempt to eliminate the fast-paced prince. "You can run!"

Tenchi soared into the air and looked down to take aim at the Prototype. It wasn't there.

"But you can't hide!" 

The double-fist/clawed blow slammed Tenchi in the backside, ripping leather, cloth, and skin, sending Tenchi plummeting to the building below. He smashed through two layers of concrete and skidded along the linoleum floor of the mall's upper story, coming to a jolting stop when he smacked into a large wooden shelf. The shelf capsized and fell on Tenchi, knocking him out cold.

The Prototype landed slowly in the mall, clouds of steam coming from his foot thrusters. "Where are you?" it chanted in a singsong voice. 

Tenchi gradually came to his senses and heard the heavy, grinding footsteps of the Prototype. 

"Where are you, little prince?"

It suddenly fired the chain gun at a large lighting apparatus which partially shattered and landed two inches from Tenchi's face. Only the boy's strong self-control let him avoid notice. The Prototype shrugged and went on searching.

Tenchi crawled slowly away from the mess and tried to sneak back to the rooftop. However, Tenchi's sneaking skills had never been the greatest. He accidentally hit his head on a metal coat rack.

The Prototype whirled and fired 500 rounds in a wide arc around the coat rack and formed a 50-foot hole in the floor where the coat rack would have been the center if it still existed. 

Out of the corner of its visual sensor, the Prototype saw Tenchi leap to the roof. Tenchi attempted to get into a ready position, but the Prototype was too fast.

"Somebody'd better call '911'!" it growled as it grabbed Tenchi by the head, spun in the air on a break-neck ascent, and performed a crushing backwards slam-dunk on the mall's rooftop water tower using Tenchi as the basketball. The steel tower concaved and collapsed, spilling a mighty rush of water. A badly bruised Tenchi floated to a rest at the feet of the Prototype, once again in his T-shirt and jeans. The Master Key lay in its normal state several feet away. In the commotion, no one had noticed that two of Ryoko's gems were missing.

The Prototype raised the barely conscious Tenchi off the ground by his shirt collar with one of its sickle claws, still stained with Kiyone's blood, which ran down the white shirt. "Isn't it funny?" the machine mused while Tenchi stared at him with total hate. "If you'd left this dead girl and run from me, you might have lived to see the dawn."

Tenchi spat in the Prototype's face. "I would rather die than forsake any one of my friends, even in death."

The Bioroid laughed and flung Tenchi against a wall. "That's alright with me!" It brought the laser rifle to bear. "Mission complete."

Tenchi closed his eyes and prepared for intense, searing death, but there was nothing. He slowly opened his eyes. 

He saw what could only have been a goddess of war. The beam saber that extended through the Prototype's torso protruded from her fist to as far as the eye could see. This female warrior was clad in a black body suit with red, curving stripes and a navy blue cloak, and had hair that looked just like . . .

"Ryoko?"

Ryoko pulled her upgraded beam saber out of the Bioroid. "Not so tough now, eh?"

The Prototype turned very slowly. "What--what are you?!"

"Your worst nightmare." Ryoko sneered. "How dare you hurt my Tenchi! I'm not just going to kill you, no. I'm going to disintegrate you and GP Headquarters as well!"

The Bioroid jetted off into the sky. "You're crazy!" He met with the spaceship form of Ryo-Ohki. The cabbit fired off the mother of all laser blasts, vaporizing the surprised Prototype with one hit. 

Ryoko smiled. "You haven't seen 'crazy' yet."

She slowly descended to Tenchi as the sun rose in the east, casting beautiful rays over her elegant body. She noticed that he was crying. "What's wrong, Tenchi?"

Tenchi shook his head and sat up. "Nothing. It's just that you're always saving me instead of the other way around."

Ryoko held him close and smiled. "Don't sweat it. It's better than dying."

Tenchi suddenly remembered. "Oh my, god! Kiyone!"

Ryoko looked at the fallen GP officer and smiled. "Don't worry; just hand me one of the crystals."

Tenchi looked confused. "Crystals?"

Ryoko pointed to his chest. "The ones on your necklace; give me one."

Tenchi looked dubious. "Okay."

Ryoko took the white jewel and placed it on Kiyone's chest. She then focused the power of her two gems into the crystal. It slowly sank into Kiyone's body, and the wounds near her shoulders closed up. 

Kiyone slowly sat up, dazed. "What happened to me? Did we win?"

She was shocked to see Ryoko answering her. "Yeah, we won."

As they made their way to enter Ryo-Ohki, Ryoko blocked Tenchi. 

Tenchi was confused once again. "What's going on, Ryoko?"

Ryoko smiled. "What, I don't even get a kiss for saving your life?"

Tenchi blushed. "Come on, Ryoko."

Ryoko blocked him further. "No way around it, Tenchi. You're going to have to kiss me."

Tenchi surprised her by putting one arm around her waist and another around her neck, giving her a kiss that could have made the record books. The surprised Ryoko slowly wrapped her arms around Tenchi and held the kiss as long as she could. That is, until Kiyone interrupted them with a loud clearing of her throat.

"Come on, you two. I don't want half of Tokyo waking up to see a spaceship on top of the mall. Things are already crazy enough without that happening."

Both Ryoko and Tenchi pulled away, smiling and blushing. "Yeah," Tenchi said. "We'd better go home."

The rising sun in the east and the landing _Yagami_ at the Masaki shrine joined with the scene of Ryo-Ohki flying through the clouds to show one thing. Those chosen by destiny had come together at last. They wouldn't always get along, that was for sure, and they wouldn't always be without mortal danger either. But one thing was for sure; this adventure wasn't over yet. In fact, it was only the beginning.

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


	9. A Slight Touch of Chaos

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Episode 8: A Slight Touch of Chaos

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If you see me, I need your love,

Serene, like the moon high above,

Soft and peaceful as a newborn dove.

What could possibly matter more to me

Than your love?

Tenchi squinted his eyes as the sun reached that certain position in the sky that allowed its bright rays to filter in through his windows. Tenchi didn't want to get out of bed. It was too early, and besides, he was bushed from yesterday's work in the carrot fields and sword training. Tenchi groaned and rolled over, slumping his bare arm across the bed. That was strange; his bed felt unusually warm and soft. Since when did beds have shoulders?

"Mmm, Tenchi. I like you better this way."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!"

Ayeka rushed to Tenchi's door when she heard the scream. "Oh my, goodness! Lord Tenchi, are you all right?!"

Sasami already stood at the door. "It's locked!"

Suddenly, the door slammed open and Tenchi ran right into Sasami, falling on top of her. 

Tenchi gazed down in utter shock as Sasami blushed and half-said, half-giggled, "Good morning, Tenchi. Breakfast is ready."

A sleepy Ryoko, still pulling her clothes on, put her hands on Tenchi's shoulders, oblivious to Ayeka's low growl. "Oh, come on, Tenchi. Let's go back to bed, hmm?"

Tenchi stood up and whirled on her. "What in the hell were you doing in my room?!"

Ryoko put a finger to her chin. "Don't you remember, Tenchi? You said that you would marry me last night; you do remember don't you?"

Tenchi screamed and rushed to the kitchen.

Ryoko laughed a mischievous laugh. 

Sasami's eyes were wide as she recovered herself. "Wow! Are you and Tenchi getting married?"

Ayeka stood with her fists coiled in murderous anger. "Of course not, Sasami! A kind man like Tenchi would never choose a she-witch for his wife!"

Ryoko looked at her with her hands behind her head and a look of false confusion. "But Ayeka, I thought that when two people love each other they go and get married. I never heard of someone falling in love with a dirt pile sporting a purple wig, unless of course that person was really desperate."

Ayeka fumed. "You make him desperate!"

Ryoko smiled devilishly. "'Desperate for what?' is the question."

Ayeka stomped down the hall and pursued Tenchi as Sasami giggled. Grownups could be so silly sometimes.

Tenchi ran full speed down the stairs and raced for the door. The only problem was: he wasn't moving anywhere. A mechanical arm had caught him by the back of his shirt collar which quickly pulled him into the broom closet underneath the stairs. Only it wasn't a broom closet. Tenchi was surrounded by a blackness through which hundreds of light beams flew.

He was suddenly in his boxers and strapped to a strangely familiar machine with a light bulb crown adorning his head. Welcome to Washu's lab.

"Hi!" Washu said cheerfully from behind a desk.

A tongue depressor was inserted in Tenchi's mouth by the machine as Washu rose and said, "So, I hear that you got a little excitement this morning."

Tenchi sighed and attempted to speak. "That's one whae off puthing ith."

Washu presented a small, apparently wooden device. "Put this next to your door on the inside. This way, no one can get into your room without knocking."

Tenchi became worried. "Wathu, whath exathly amth I thooing here?"

Washu smiled an anime smile. "I just want to collect some samples! Nothing to worry about! Nothing at all!"

She cackled maniacally as a large robotic arm with sickle blades, hypodermic syringes filled with God-knows-what, and Q-Tips descended towards Tenchi. Tenchi's scream would have been heard for miles if it weren't for Washu's soundproof walls.

Yosho walked down the shrine steps and smiled at the glittering lake and the beautiful morning sky. It had been about a month since the Tokyo incident, and all of the girls, except for Mihoshi and Kiyone, who had to return to Galaxy Police Headquarters, had opted to stay at the Tenchi residence. Washu had set up a subspace laboratory inside what used to be the house's broom closet, Ayeka and Sasami shared the guest bedroom, and Ryoko . . . Well, there was no sure way to tell where Ryoko would be at any one moment, but odds were that she'd be within five feet of Tenchi.

Yosho laughed. What a rambunctious group of women! He wondered if it was too much for his grandson.

Suddenly, as if on cue, Tenchi bolted out of the house and dashed up the shrine steps, almost colliding with his grandfather.

"Tenchi?" Yosho asked worriedly. "Why are you running so fast?"

Tenchi stopped, put his hands on his knees, and panted. "Washu . . . hide me from . . . Washu!"

A voice lilted through the air, one that most Tenchi fans assert with incoming doom. "Oh, Tenchiiiiiiii . . ."

Tenchi screamed and tried to run off again, but Yosho held him by the collar of his newly retrieved shirt. "Who's there?"

Washu appeared out of nowhere. "Hi! I was trying to find Tenchi, but it looks like you got to him first."

Yosho smiled a knowing smile. "All right, what are you trying to pull, Washu?"

Washu looked more innocent than a babe. "Pull? Nothing at all! Whatever gave you that idea."

Tenchi suddenly stood up. "You keep that weird machine away from me!"

Yosho seemed to remember something and then laughed. "Oh! So that's what's been going on."

Tenchi looked confused. "Huh?"

Yosho put a suspiciously friendly hand on Tenchi's shoulder. "When I met Professor Washu, I was about your age, and she thought that I was a very interesting specimen; so she performed a few tests. It's really nothing to worry about."

Tenchi face-faulted. "Have you seen that needle arm?!"

Yosho smiled frighteningly and muttered under his breath. "Just let her do it, Tenchi. Trust me, there's no escape."

Washu smiled pure evil.

Suddenly, Ryoko appeared behind Washu and slapped her in the back of the head. Washu fell to the pavement as Ryoko stated, "Just what the hell do you think you're doing with my Tenchi?!"

Washu stood up and dusted off her clothes. "Nothing more lewd than your little escapade this morning."

Ryoko blushed heavily. "That's none of your business!"

Washu smiled again. "However, I will lay off my experiments if you just promise me one thing."

Ryoko snorted. "What?"

Washu fluttered her eyelashes. "Just call me 'mom'!"

Ryoko face-faulted. Washu had told her earlier that week that she was her mother and had proceeded to prove it by DNA testing, but she still held that possibility in the realm of disbelief. However, if it meant eliminating some of the competition . . .

"Fine."

"Super-kewl!" Washu mewed in a far too girlish voice. She walked down the steps toward her laboratory. "See you later, Tenchi."

Tenchi had the look of inevitable fate on his face as his grandfather turned to him, confused. "Escapade? What escapade?"

Mihoshi sighed and placed her tray of food down on one of the many circular tables in the GPHQ cafeteria. Where in the world had Kiyone gone? She munched on a french fry and looked at the TVs which were monitoring the different sections of the headquarters. When they had arrived, Kiyone had gone off to make her report and had told Mihoshi to meet her at their quarters.

It had been two days since then, and Kiyone had yet to show herself. Mihoshi sniffled. Why would Kiyone abandon her like that? What did she do? What if Kiyone was in trouble?

"Where are you, Kiyone?!" sobbed Mihoshi. Fountains of tears gushed from her eyes as many male GP officers tried to calm her down.

Kiyone opened her eyes and blinked quickly, assailed as she was by a blinding light. Once her vision cleared, she discovered that she was lying down in a room that consisted entirely of high-intensity light panels. She made a grab for her GP pistol, but both it and its holster were missing.

How long had she been out? Kiyone rubbed her head. The last thing she remembered was making her report in the office when someone hit her from behind.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Is anyone here?!"

Her voice echoed off the walls of the large room, but there was no answer. Suddenly, a sound became faintly audible. Kiyone pressed her ear to the floor and quickly recognized the noise. Hyperdrive engines. So, she was on a spaceship.

Kiyone sat Indian-style in the middle of the floor, clasped her orange-gloved hands around her boots, and sighed. What reason would someone have to do this? She had gotten clearance from headquarters before destroying the Bioroids. Had the conn officer blabbed?

Kiyone rose again and examined the extremely small aperture between the light fixtures. That couldn't be right, unless . . . She knocked on the material. It was wooden.

A Jurai warship? What could they want with her?

"You are too stay away from Tenchi, you monstrous headhunter!"

"Yeah right, like he wants to hang out with you, Princess Airhead."

"That is simply enough! Begone with you!"

"Shut up."

"Make me."

"Don't push me, princess."

"Oh, so it's a fight you want, eh?"

"You said it, not me."

Tenchi sighed heavily as he made his way towards the vegetable storehouse. Ryoko and Ayeka were trailing a few feet behind him, arguing all the way, as they had been since that morning. Would they ever stop?

Tenchi had been ignoring most of the confrontation as he opened the wooden door. Then he saw and heard two things at once. He saw a fattened Ryo-Ohki in the middle of a pile of empty baskets and heard Ryoko scream, "That's it, bitch!"

A plasma bolt flew at the violet-haired princess, which she quickly blocked with her force shield. However, the bolt slammed straight into the vegetable shed, detonating it on impact. Both shocked women looked as the debris landed and the dust cleared. There stood a smoking Tenchi and Ryo-Ohki, Ryo-Ohki knocked out cold, Tenchi looking very angry.

Both women bowed. "Oops."

Tenchi through down his basket. "That's it."

Tenchi had soon gathered everyone in the den along with a massive pile of cleaning supplies. All of the "Tenchi family", Ryoko, Ayeka, Sasami, Washu, Yosho, and Ryo-Ohki, looked expectantly at him as he announced, "All right, I've really had enough of all the fighting."

All of the women looked downcast as he continued. "So I got to thinking: 'Why are they doing this?', and I came up with the solution. You obviously have nothing better to do, so I think it's time for Spring Cleaning."

All were confused. "Spring Cleaning?"

Ryoko cocked her head to the side. "What's that?"

Tenchi smiled a workman's smile. "It's when everyone in a family works together to clean up a house." He frowned. "And in our case, rebuild it."

Ryoko smiled. "You know I'm all for 'working together' with you, Tenchi."

Yosho handed her a broom. "Actually, you would be best suited for sweeping the shrine steps while Tenchi repairs the storeroom."

Ayeka laughed.

Ryoko frowned and threw down the broom. "Like hell I wil-" She noticed Tenchi's disapproving frown. She reluctantly picked up the sweeping tool. "Okay."

Tenchi handed out the rest of the chores. Ayeka and Sasami would vacuum and dust the rooms of the house, Ryo-Ohki would help out Ryoko, Washu would mop and generally clean up the kitchen, and Noboyuki would clean out the basement. Yosho decided to straighten up the shrine. 

"Okay," Tenchi said after handing out tools and chores. "Let's get to it!"

It was a gift to fly. Ryoko often took it for granted, given that she could accomplish this feat at will, but it was still a marvelous gift. And since Ryoko always flew or floated to the shrine at the top of the hill, she had never taken into account how long the temple stairway was. It had been an hour of drudgery, sweeping those steps from the top to the bottom, and she couldn't even see the house yet. She sighed and set aside the broom for a moment to rest. She wondered how Ryo-Ohki was doing at the other end.

That was when she looked up and spazzed out. She could see the black spires of Ryo-Ohki's spaceship form over the trees. And judging from the jolting earthquakes, she seemed to be firing at something.

Ryoko literally flew down the steps and saw that Ryo-Ohki was shooting at the steps and blocking its laser at the same time with a force shield. The impact caused shock waves that blew the dust from the steps with great alacrity.

Ryoko smiled and shouted in encouragement. "Good job, Ryo-Ohki!"

Ryo-Ohki was now distracted. "Myia?"

The spaceship/cabbit forgot to activate the shield and a laser blast punched into the shrine steps and blew a large section to smithereens. Ryoko stood dumbfounded as she watched Ryo-Ohki transform back and give her a mean look. She then felt Yosho's hand on her shoulder. 

"Guess who's rebuilding the steps."

Ayeka looked strangely at the vacuum cleaner. "I order you to clean this room!"

Surprisingly, the vacuum cleaner didn't budge.

Ayeka was frustrated. If this contraption didn't obey vocal commands, then how did one operate it?

"Sasami!" she called.

Sasami poked her head in the doorway of the master bedroom. "What's up, Ayeka?"

Ayeka was slightly embarrassed. "How do you operate this machine?"

Sasami pointed at the machine. "Do you see that switch on top?"

Ayeka gave it a quick glance. "Yes."

Sasami smiled. "That's the 'on-switch', okay?" She then resumed dusting the upper hallway.

Ayeka looked at the vacuum disdainfully. A device that required manual labor. How . . . primitive.

She reluctantly flipped the switch while leaning on the vacuum's handle.

VOOM!

The noise of the loud motor startled Ayeka so that she, expecting the thing to blow, threw herself to the floor. In doing so, she accidentally hit her head on the metal underside of the bed. She cursed in Juraian and immediately stood straight up in reaction. That knocked the live vacuum over, and it caught hold of her kimono. She screamed and tried to fight the vacuum for control of her dress. 

"Give that back, you horrible machine!"

As she continued to tug, Sasami stood in the doorway, unable to assist her flailing sister for she herself was dying of laughter.

Ayeka's kimono started slipping from her shoulders. Desperate to maintain some level of royal dignity, she lunged for the handle and flicked the switch off. The kimono-eating mechanical monster died at last.

Sasami was still laughing as she undid the latch on the bottom of the vacuum and started fishing Ayeka's newly dustified kimono. "Jeez, Ayeka. Maybe you'd better do the dusting."

'This shouldn't happen to average, everyday kids like me.' Tenchi thought as he hammered a nail into one of the pieces of timber that would make up the blown-up wall facing the shrine. 'Well, then again I'm not exactly normal.'

It was a monstrous task: rebuilding the food storage shed, but at least the entire thing hadn't been blown to smithereens. Most of the inner wall remained, as well as at least half of the two that connected with it. The wall that Tenchi was rebuilding, however, would take more than a week if he continued to work by himself.

He sighed and looked into the setting sun. Was it really worth it to keep all these women around? He then smiled. Of course it was. The loving Ryoko, the beautiful Ayeka, the bright Sasami, and the intelligent Washu . . . Tenchi looked towards the appearing stars. He wouldn't mind if Kiyone or Mihoshi stopped by for a visit once in a while. 

'Wow.' Tenchi thought as he continued his work. 'Life sure has turned around for me.'

Washu and Noboyuki had encountered problems with their assigned tasks as well. Washu has slipped on the wet floor, and Noboyuki had managed to bury himself under one of the comic book shelves in the basement. 

Both were muttering a low chorus, "Ow, ow, ow, ow . . ."

Kiyone was about to become bored out of her mind. How long did they intend on keeping her in this weird cell? Until she cracked? She laughed maniacally. Not likely.

Suddenly, the Juraian High Guard burst into the room. Kiyone barely had time to gasp before they knocked her out cold with a blow from their staffs and dragged her off into the ship.

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


	10. The Ryo-Ohki Syndrome

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Episode 9: The Ryo-Ohki Syndrome

It was another fine morning at the Masaki residence. At least, it would have been if it weren't for what was about to happen. 

Washu was an enigma. How horrible she could be at times, dragging people into her lab, blackmailing her own daughter, creating awful super weapons. Despite all this, as she walked down the stairs to her lab, wearing nothing but a really long T-shirt and rubbing her eyes as she had just woken up, she looked innocent and beautiful.

Washu opened up what used to be the closet door and commanded her work cushion to appear. The apparatus floated above the ground and bounced slightly as Washu slumped into it and began calling up data charts on transparent, floating screens. 

"Hmm . . ." she mused as she focused on a computer screen. She tried to hold back a sleepy yawn, since she really was excited about the outcome of yesterday's experiment, but she failed and almost killed herself coughing the unwelcome breath of air out of her lungs. "Boy, I feel smart. (cough)"

The screens flickered with unbelievable speed, and yet somehow Washu understood them all. One of Washu's many captive organisms twittered from somewhere in the depths of the lab. 

Suddenly, Washu clapped her hands in excitement. "Ah, yes!" She rolled from side to side in her cushion, clasping her hands together and holding them against her chest. "I've finally done it: Ryo-Ohki Version 2.0!"

She clicked some more commands into her computer and then hit "Enter".

"Now, let's get a look at it."

The screen flashed and beeped even more rapidly than before. Calculus equations were one thing, creating a life form took a lot of processing speed. 

However, after about 15 minutes of calculating, Washu began to suspect that something was wrong. "It shouldn't take this long to pull up a preview image. Did that Internet service buy me a Windows software package instead of the Mac that I paid it for?"

She called up a status check. It read: "Ryo-Ohki software program updated. Information received. AutoConstruct feature activated."

Washu groaned. Not only was it Windows, but it had started constructing the new version on its own. Suddenly, an alarm went off.

"What?!" Washu exclaimed. Something else was wrong. The software was never designed to handle the size of the data that she had input. 

Speakers blared, "Systems crash! Systems crash!"

"No! Dammit!" Washu screamed, bashing her computer.

Tenchi opened the door to her lab. "What's going on, Little Washu?"

Washu whirled on him. "Close that door! I can't contain it if-"

Washu yawned heavily. This project was really wearing her out. So far, her system had shown unusual difficulty in processing the needed information. She lay back in her chair and ran her hand through her long green and brown spiky hair. When would technology work as fast as her mind could? Probably never.

Tenchi opened the door to her lab. He smiled a handsome smile that made the white hair on his cheeks fluff up in a cute manner. "When are you ever going to stop getting up in the middle of the night to go check your experiments, Washu?"

Washu turned her head in his direction quickly and smiled. "I'm sorry, Tenchi, but I just had to get this part done."

Tenchi nodded. "It's okay. Just come back to bed soon." He smiled a warm smile again. "I miss you already."

Washu worked inhumanly fast on her keyboard and was done in five minutes. How lucky she had been to marry Tenchi. His kind personality, those toned muscles, those pretty brown eyes, that soft white fur . . . She almost drooled on herself before she realized that she had not yet turned off her computer. She hurriedly hit the "Shut Down" key and rushed out of her lab, long T-shirt flapping behind her. The last thing that displayed on the screen was "Ryo-Ohki V.2.0 program paused."

Tenchi leaned over and put his arm around the sleeping Washu's bare shoulders. What an extraordinary wife she had turned out to be, playing the peacemaker in the household where the other girls refused to leave, and still running her experiments. He kissed her deftly on the cheek. He was a lucky man indeed.

The computer in Washu's lab blipped on all of a sudden. The monitor appeared, and on its screen was a distressed-looking, very different Washu. Her unusual magenta hair fluttered as she finished saying, "-the effect of the-"

The computer blipped off.

"Breakfast is ready, everyone." Sasami cheerfully shouted. The members of the family all crowded downstairs and took their respective seats at the table while Sasami passed out a strange dish that seemed to involve chocolate.

"What is this, Sasami?" Ayeka questioned. "I didn't think that chocolate is a breakfast food."

Tenchi smiled and stabbed the entree with his fork. "These are chocolate pancakes."

A chorus of "ohs" came from everyone at the table and they all began eating.

"So," Kiyone began. "How was 'last night'?"

Tenchi blushed heavily. "Umm, well-"

Washu smiled. "It's really none of your business."

Ryoko frowned. "Like it was your business to snatch Tenchi in the first place."

Ayeka sighed. "For once, I agree with you."

Tenchi scowled. "Please don't start this again, guys."

Both gave him a withering look.

"You still haven't explained why you picked her, Tenchi." Ryoko whined.

"Yes, that's all that we're waiting for. Just tell us and we'll be on our way." Ayeka joined in.

Tenchi stopped eating. "If you two can't be satisfied with the fact that I've chosen someone special, then you don't deserve to know why I chose my wife."

Both girls looked downcast in a weary sort of way. The wedding had been at least a month ago, and neither girl had managed to extract any sort of reason from Tenchi. Granted, they might have been asking too much at first, but now he barely even talked to them. He didn't even like to be around Ryoko and Ayeka.

After breakfast, Tenchi walked outside with Washu and Ryoko and Ayeka didn't follow. What was the use? It was obvious that Tenchi was far too annoyed with them to give them the time of day, much less the reason for his choice.

They both walked out of the room in a very sad, heavy gait. When Tenchi and Washu's new life had begun, their lives had ended. Painfully.

Tenchi sat down next to the lake with a sigh and picked up a pebble from the shore. The early morning clouds shone a brilliant pink and the rising sun still looked red from the horizon spectrum effect. Washu sat down next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder (she stayed mostly in Washu-san form these days). 

"What's the matter?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Tenchi gazed blankly at the horizon. "Should I tell them, Little Washu?"

Washu smiled. She wasn't little in any respect nowadays, but she still liked Tenchi's pet name for her. "I don't know. Do you think that you should?"

Tenchi put his hand to his forehead. "I really can't decide. I mean, this must sound silly, but I told myself before I even chose you to be my bride that I wouldn't explain it to the others, that they would have to assume that I put a lot of thought into that decision and chose the girl who I felt I could spend the rest of my life with."

Washu cocked her head to the side. "Isn't it that simple?"

Tenchi sighed. "No, it isn't. I can't put into words how much I love you, I can barely even describe it myself. It's as if my love for you is the size of the Earth and I can only put my understanding on what I can see of it from one standpoint."

Washu blushed. "You don't have to tell them that."

Tenchi looked confused. "What?"

Washu shook her head. "That's not the answer they're looking for. They just want closure, Tenchi. They've asked 'Is that your final answer?' and they're waiting for you to respond, 'Yes it is, Regis.' All you have to do is explain that you chose me because you felt that you could spend the rest of your life with me; not only that, but that you wanted to spend your life with me."

Tenchi looked at the sky. "Isn't that too shallow? Will they really be satisfied with that answer?"

Washu hugged his arm and nuzzled her head against it. "I was."

Tenchi lifted Washu's chin with his index finger and smiled warmly. "You know how beautiful you are?"

Washu slid her hands down his wrist, moaning, "Uh-huh."

Tenchi drew her closer, slowly. "And smart?"

Washu closed her eyes and puckered her ruby-red lips. "Yeah."

Tenchi closed his as well. "And sexy?"

Unexpectedly, Tenchi whirled her around and started tickling her madly. 

Washu laughed girlishly and squirmed under Tenchi's tenacious grasp. "Hahahaha! Stop Tench-haha-i! Hahaha!"

Tenchi eventually tackled her to the ground and pinned her arms with his hands. He looked at his wife as her chest heaved up and down with repressed laughter. He smiled fiendishly. 

"And you're still so cute."

Tenchi leaned down and kissed Washu deeply. She returned it by wrapping her arms around his back and pulling him down on top of her, communicating the fire of love inside her with several amorous embraces and resonant purring deep in her throat; igniting passion in the man that was not only her husband, but her lover, and her hero.

Washu's lab seemed simple enough to enter. All you do is open the closet door, right? Wrong. Many strange and unusual force fields and defense weaponry that stopped or vaporized intruders with the highest level of universal efficiency had been implemented to prevent unwelcome guests from discovering Washu's most closely guarded scientific secrets.

That said, Mihoshi had accomplished the impossible. 

"How did I get so lost?" she asked herself as she wandered Washu's lab. "How did I even get in here?" She remembered looking for a broom to sweep the kitchen floor with, but that was about it.

Soon enough, she came to Washu's personal computer interface. "Oh, what does this button do?"

Mihoshi pressed the biggest button on the console, which happened to be the "on switch". Suddenly, the computer flashed to life and sparks flew from the screen. Mihoshi screamed and dived under a nearby chair. Smoke billowed from the back of the data processor.

Soon enough, the contraption quieted down and Mihoshi looked up from under the chair. A magenta-haired woman was speaking frantically on the screen.

" - malfunction if some kind of barrier isn't in place! Tenchi close it-"

"Who are you?!" Mihoshi chimed.

The scientist Washu turned her head very slowly. "What the hell?"

Mihoshi pouted. "That's not a very nice thing to say."

Washu looked VERY confused. "Who-who are you?"

"I'm First Class Detective Mihoshi! Pleased to meet you!"

Washu laughed. "Don't be silly! You're the new Ryo-Ohki, aren't you?"

Mihoshi looked at her strangely. "What's a 'Ryo-Ohki'?

Washu began to become worried. "But you look just like Ryo-Ohki's humanoid form. How can you be . . ." She looked around herself. "Where am I?!"

Magenta-haired Washu was floating in a black space which was lanced with blue energy pulses. She was dumbfounded. "How did I- This kind of experiment had nothing to do with alternate dimensions! How did this happen?" She looked gravely at the screen. "Turn this computer off, Mihoshi."

Mihoshi looked as ditzy as ever. "How do I do that?"

Washu sighed. "Press the biggest button, and then tell Washu to come and turn it back on again in one hour."

"Okay!" Mihoshi said, switching off the computer and skipping right out of the lab with a sudden burst of inexplicable knowledge of the lab exit's whereabouts. It was as if nothing unusual had ever happened in the first place.

Mihoshi returned to the lab three days later, dragged by Washu, in the middle of the night.

"Why did you wait three whole days to tell me about this?!" Washu ranted as Mihoshi sobbed incoherently. "Can't you do anything right?!"

Mihoshi stopped whimpering. "I'm sorry, Ms. Washu. I forgot!"

Washu finally released her hold on Mihoshi's shirt collar and sighed, placing a hand against her forehead. "You always forget, Mihoshi." She turned to the master computer. "So you're telling me that an alien using my name managed to hack into my central computer core?"

Mihoshi nodded reluctantly. 

Washu turned the power on. "All right, then."

The sounds of snoring could be heard behind the screen.

Washu looked confused. "Hello?"

A strange magenta-haired creature that possessed no other hair except for that on her head sat bolt upright. "Wha? Oh, you're finally here!"

Washu was amazed at the physical composition of this creature on her computer screen. She looked familiar in a way. Still, business was business. "All right, who are you and what have you done to my computer?"

The girl on the other side of the screen smiled. "My name is Professor Washu."

The Washu on the lab side did a double take. "Give me a break! What kind of sick joke is this?"

The human Washu frowned. "This is no joke. I've figured out that I'm from a parallel dimension to your own and that both of our dimensions are in very real danger."

A distressed silence pervaded the room. A loud thump was heard as Mihoshi passed out on a table.

The Ryo-Ohki-like Washu responded, "Let's say that I believe you; what kind of danger are we in?"

Human Washu's frown grew wider as her eyebrows furrowed. "A time-space-dimensional paradox that could warp the interdimensional universe into an anti-time anomaly which would in turn destroy every plane of existence that resides within the boundaries of scientific knowledge."

Ryo-Ohki-like Washu's eyes grew very wide. "And how much time do we have before this disaster?"

Human Washu pulled up a data pad. "Approximately 48 hours and counting."

"Oh, nut-bunnies."

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


	11. No Need for a Paradox

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Episode 10: No Need for a Paradox

From Washu's Notepad: 

This is very odd. Apparently, I have been transported to a realm between two dimensions: my dimension, and a new dimension that I accidentally created in an experiment with a new version of Ryo-Ohki. I've found that these dimensions contradict each other, and yet operate on the same dimensional plane, which is impossible.

This new dimension, where everyone looks like humanoid versions of Ryo-Ohki and Ken-Ohki, is slowly creating an instability on the dimensional plane. If this plane collapses, it would cause a chain reaction which would lead to total eradication of any existence of life in the entire interdimensional multiverse. Ouch.

I only hope that the alternate Washu believes my words and will help me solve this predicament.

End of Entry

The alternate Washu exited her lab and slowly closed the door behind her with a sigh. It couldn't really be true, could it? Of course not! She remembered everything from the day she was born; how could this dimension have been created only a few days ago? However, the real Washu's words were stuck in her mind. 

"These are false memories that are copied from our own. Like I said, your dimension is a compilation of my memories and Ryo-Ohki's DNA."

The memory of that statement rocked Washu for the second time that day. She almost fell against the kitchen table and began to cry her eyes out. Did that mean that her love for Tenchi was false? That all of their happiness was a mistake? That all of her wonderful memories, happy times, and times of anguish were all someone else's to own? She couldn't bear it.

Sasami opened the front door carrying a basket full of carrots. She had been helping Tenchi in the field, and he had told her to go on in since he could handle the rest. Moreover, he didn't want to come home to no supper. Sasami was just taking her shoes off at the door when she heard an odd sound coming from the kitchen. Was someone crying?

'Oh no.' Sasami thought. 'Can't Ryoko and Ayeka find a better place to mope than the kitchen?'

As she opened the kitchen door, however, it was neither Ryoko nor Ayeka that she saw huddled under the table. "Washu?" she gasped. "Oh, what's wrong?"

Washu wiped her eyes quickly to save face. "Nothing, Sasami. Really."

Sasami gave her a skeptical look. "You don't want to tell me?"

Washu smiled. Sasami was awfully perceptive. "You wouldn't understand yet, Sasami."

Sasami looked downcast, but she understood. "Okay."

Washu lifted the blue-haired girl's chin. "Hey, come on! Don't worry about it! What are we having for dinner, hmm?"

Sasami smiled. "I was just about to work on that!"

Washu exited the kitchen and opened the front door. She plopped down in a hammock on the porch. Of course that other Washu was mistaken. This dimension had existed forever. Perhaps the magenta-haired genius' dimension was the mistake. Washu smiled at the porch overhang above. Yep, nothing to worry about. Nothing at-

Washu looked strangely at the overhang with her golden eyes. Part of the overhang was missing. In its place was an interdimensional tear. The white-hot anti-energy crackled and flashed. It was barely visible, but it did prove one thing. Whether or not this dimension came first, both were going to collapse sooner or later.

Tenchi sneaked quietly through the house at night.

"Ow! Dammit, who put that-"

"Yaaaaah!" (crash)

Almost quietly, anyway.

He limped his way towards Washu's lab bearing the injuries he had sustained from the free-standing vacuum cleaner heroically. As he slowly opened the door, careful not to make a creaking noise, he heard the sound of Washu typing.

'Ah, she's working on that experiment again.' Tenchi thought.

As he opened the door further, though, he discovered that not only was Washu typing away madly at several keyboards, but she was red-eyed and crying as well. Her hair looked seriously rumpled, as if she had run her hand through it many times. Sweat and tears dripped off her chin and onto the holographic keyboard as she continued to type and mumble to herself.

"No, not that one. Not that one either. Nope, wrong again."

Suddenly she screamed and punched straight through the computer screen. It sustained holographic damage before dematerializing. Washu put her face in her hands and sobbed.

Tenchi walked behind her and rested his hands on her soft shoulders, one of which was bare since her nightshirt was really big and sort of hanging off to one side. She impulsively slid her own hands under his and grasped them.

"What's wrong, Little Washu?" he asked.

Washu looked up at him with teary eyes. "I can't save our dimension, Tenchi. We'll all . . . cease to exist."

Tenchi held her close and she continued to cry. "What do you mean? Our dimension?"

The human Washu continued to float in interspace. At the moment, she was throwing around a Ryo-Ohki high bouncer ball around to determine the area of her prison. At least, that's what she told herself. To be truthful, she was bored out of her mind.

'What in the world could that other Washu be doing?' she thought. 'We're talking about an interdimensional paradox here! What could be more important than that?'

She opened up a dimensional window to see if the other Washu was working in her lab. Washu did not find what she had expected. The Ryo-Ohki Washu had completely broken down in Ryo-Ohki Tenchi's arms. Human Washu gasped. For a moment there, she had forgotten that sometimes, people's feelings should come first. She regretted thinking badly of the other Washu. 

Human Washu looked again at the pair and smiled, despite the sorrow of the situation. How often had she wished that she could have a man like that? Ever since her husband had been taken away from her . . .

'Wait a minute . . .' Washu thought. 'How could I be married to Tenchi in that dimension if it's only a reflection of my memories . . . and feelings? That means . . .'

Washu blushed. She didn't have time to think about it before, but maybe she too had a crush on the young prince? She began to cackle at the thought, forgetting that the dimensional window worked both ways.

Tenchi and Washu almost broke their embrace in shock and turned to the dreaming Human Washu. "What do you think is so funny?!" Ryo-Ohki Washu shouted. 

Tenchi had no idea what to say.

Neither did Human Washu. "Oh! I wasn't laughing at you! Really! It's just the thought of . . . Well, you see . . ."

Ryo-Ohki Washu wore a morose stare.

'Oh, hell with it.' Human Washu thought. "I'm sorry."

Ryo-Ohki Washu turned. "I just tried every possible solution to our situation in the simulator."

Human Washu folded her arms. "None of them worked, huh?"

Ryo-Ohki Washu shook her head, making the long tendrils of green hair flutter. "No. Only one solution will solve the problem: annihilation of one dimension."

Human Washu frowned. "Or the other."

Tenchi suddenly realized what was going on. "You mean that there are other dimensions besides our own?"

Both Washus sighed. "That's kind of a moot point, Tenchi."

Human Washu pulled out a computer panel. "All right. I hate to do it, but I'm shutting down your dimension."

Ryo-Ohki Washu panicked and pulled out her own console, canceling Human Washu's commands. "You can't do that? What makes your dimension so much better?"

Human Washu sighed. "No matter how real your dimension seems, it's only three days old! Your feelings and memories are false! Mine are real! My dimension is real! Don't you get it! I've got to do this now; we're running out of time!"

Ryo-Ohki Washu was fuming. "How can you say my feelings and memories are false? They're identical to yours!"

'Not quite.' Human Washu thought.

"What makes them so different, huh? What makes me any less real than you? I'm standing . . . sitting here, aren't I? Does that make me and my dimension an illusion?"

Human Washu sighed and stopped typing. "It's not the substance of the situation but the timing that counts! My dimension was the original-"

"Does that make it better?!"

"You're confusing the issue!"

"I'm bringing to light what you don't realize!"

"I'm saving the entire dimensional plane!"

"You're committing murder!"

"I made a mistake! It could happen to anyone!"

"Yeah, right!"

"That's enough!" Tenchi shouted suddenly.

Both Washus stopped arguing.

"Neither of you make any sense! Listen to yourselves!" Tenchi continued. "We can't hold a debate here over whether one dimension is real or not. One of us is going to have to volunteer." He laid his hands on Ryo-Ohki Washu's shoulders once again. "Maybe you need to think about this a little more." He turned to Human Washu. "And maybe you need to stop regarding this dimension as just another lifeless creation!"

With that, he left the room.

Human Washu just stared. "Wow. The Tenchi in my dimension was never so forthcoming."

Ryo-Ohki Washu turned to her with tears in her eyes. "Maybe that's another thing you should consider when you judge your 'creations'." She exited the lab and headed upstairs.

Human Washu closed the window and sat cross-legged. Had she made a bigger mistake than it had at first seemed?

Tenchi leaned against the bathroom sink and splashed cold water on his face. He then watched it drip off of his chin into the drain below. 

'How did this happen?' he thought. 

He often found it best not to question life as it was, but this was different. This was quite possibly the end of his life. Would his dimension be erased, or would that other unknown dimension? He looked out the bathroom window at the night sky. Unknown dimension; that's what that other place was. What was it like over there? What would that other Tenchi be like? Could anyone over there answer that same question about his dimension?

He shook his head. No one could be expected to answer questions like that. No one can fully understand what it would be like to walk in someone else's shoes. No one had the right answer to this situation. It was a 50: 50 chance, wasn't it?

Tenchi fished a coin out of his pocket and flipped it. Heads. Tails. Heads. Tails. Heads. Heads. Tails. Heads.

Tenchi smiled. The only way to decide the odds was to weight one side of the coin.

Ryo-Ohki Washu was crying in her bed. It was confusing, even for her. Deciding the fate of an entire world? She wished that she didn't have to, but if no decision was made, then both worlds would die. That would be a pointless waste.

But there were too many factors involved. There was no right answer, was there? Then Washu observed another tear in space, this time just above the curtain in her room. Was the other dimension experiencing this? Just then she had a queer thought and rushed to her lab.

Later that night, Tenchi and both Washus were in the lab. After a bit of testing, it was confirmed: only the new dimension was showing signs of deterioration.

"Those tears aren't part of the paradox effect." Human Washu reported. "That's your own dimension's instability. Even without the paradox, it will collapse in a few days."

Ryo-Ohki Washu brought up another pad and typed slowly. "I know."

Tenchi sighed. So this was the weight on the coin. He walked over to Ryo-Ohki Washu across the dimensional laboratory chamber. "Little Washu, if you want to-"

Ryo-Ohki Washu turned to him. "No." She gazed at Human Washu with an intensity that made the other Washu gasp. "It's better that she have a chance at loving you for a lifetime than me have you for just a few more days." She choked on the last part.

Tears started to well in Tenchi's eyes. "Little Washu . . ."

They embraced and cried together with a grief beyond comprehension. Human Washu turned away. She couldn't watch this; it was painful enough already. Was this really . . . no, she couldn't decide otherwise. She couldn't make a decision for all the others in her dimension. This choice was upon the other Washu, and she had made the logical decision. Oh, logic be damned! Washu turned back to the weeping couple. Emotion of this magnitude could make you forget the world of people out there. But Washu couldn't afford that. She had made the most dire of mistakes this time. This was no mere malfunction; this was love torn to pieces.

Ryo-Ohki Washu looked up at the likewise crying Human Washu. How different they appeared, yet how alike they were. Maybe she didn't understand everything about Human Washu' dimension or the origin of her own, but this situation had to end. The pain could not go on forever. Rest would come soon. And peace.

Ryo-Ohki Washu slid her hand over the final button that would activate the deletion of the Ryo-Ohki V.2.0 program which was the center of the paradox. Her hand was soon joined by Tenchi's warm grasp. Human Washu watched as Ryo-Ohki Washu leaned backward to give Tenchi a final, desperate goodbye kiss . . .

Human Washu couldn't take it. "Wait, you don't have to-"

It was too late. The button had been pressed. Human Washu screamed as the dimension before her tore itself to pieces in a blinding flash of light and crackling anti-energy. The space around her warped rapidly and became a sort of light tunnel. Washu soared through it unconsciously as light orbs shot by in stretched ellipsoid form and waves of energy twirled around her body.

"Washu! Wake up! Wake up!"

Washu opened her eyes slowly. There was Tenchi, smiling at her with that wonderfully warm smile of his and those kind, glittering eyes. Without thinking, she pulled him into a long kiss which Tenchi did not have the will to pull himself away from. He slowly rose from it and Washu sat up. Had she been on the floor of the laboratory for all this time? Had it all been a dream?

Tenchi was blushing heavily. "What was that for?"

Washu blushed as well. "Um . . . It's sort of a long story. I sort of reacted without thinking." 'Very unbecoming of a universal genius.' she thought. 'Get a hold of yourself, Washu.'

Tenchi stood up and offered a helping hand. "Well, I wish I understood what that meant. That must have been some crazy dream you had, eh?"

Washu took the waiting hand and smiled. "Yep, crazy as hell."

At dinner that night, Tenchi was having much difficulty eating. Ryoko had made another overly flirtatious move on him and Ayeka had protested as usual. As a result, they had begun to slap each other across the table and pull on Tenchi's arms. Tenchi had stopped the main fighting, but now they were kicking each other under the table, using Tenchi's calves as the demilitarized zone.

Sasami, oblivious to the under-the-table conflict, leaned on her hand and questioned, "I wonder where Miss Washu is."

Tenchi looked toward the ex-broom closet door. "She was working in her lab the last time I saw her."

Sasami sighed. "That's to be expected, I guess."

Tenchi looked at her strangely. Wasn't that a bit of rich dialogue coming from a 10-year-old? 'Maybe its because Juraians age differently then we do.' he began to think. The thought was shoved out of his head, however, when Ryoko took aim at Ayeka with a low-power electric blast under the table, missed, and hit Tenchi instead. Tenchi yelped and fell over backwards in his chair.

Ryoko gasped. "Oh my! Tenchi, are you all right?"

Ayeka stood up. "Lord Tenchi!"

Tenchi sighed. "Why me, God? Why me?"

Washu sat on a shelf in the dimensional chamber of her laboratory, overlooking the button that she had seen in . . .

Was it a dream?

Washu sighed and buried her face in her arms. Whether the situation had been real or not, the guilt remained. Washu remembered seeing dimensional tears in both dimensions, but lying about it to the other Washu. That was why she had tried to stop them at the last second. Washu began to cry. This was the strongest guilt that she had ever felt. She didn't like facing emotion; it interfered with her work. Every time she had tried to work at her computer that night, the images kept coming back to her, especially that last moment . . .

She sobbed alone in the darkness wishing for it all to go away.

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


	12. Elementary, My Dear Ayeka

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Episode 11: Elementary, My Dear 

Ayeka

The sounds of scraping and struggle echoed in the still air of the prison chamber.

"Ow, dammit!"

Kiyone sucked on her bruised index finger, yet she smiled at what she had finally managed to accomplish. One of the light panels had come loose, revealing a complex circuit net underneath the floor. Kiyone inspected the many wires carefully. Unfortunately, these wires did not connect to any vital systems. Kiyone hummed to herself and began to scrape away the tubing on one of the wires with her fingernails. A transparent cord slowly started to glow underneath the rubber-like material.

Fiber optic wires? Those were only used for visual simulation systems. The closest and most likely of these systems was . . .

Kiyone began to tamper with the wires. When she heard commotion outside the door to her cell, she quickly replaced the light panel and sat on it.

A guard wielding a Juraian war staff stomped into the room and demanded, "Is this your idea of a joke?"

Kiyone noticed laughter coming from outside the room. The display above her cell door read: "Mr. Spanky".

"It wasn't me, sir. Honest. After all, where could I access that panel?"

The guard looked at her suspiciously for a moment and then stomped back out of the cell, closing the door and mumbling something about calling maintenance.

Kiyone smiled. This didn't seem very useful now, but under the right circumstances, it could mean her escape.

It was sunny. That was the first thing that I noticed as I opened my eyes on what seemed to be a perfectly normal Thursday morning. This morning, however, I didn't feel like getting out of bed just yet. I reached up and pulled the cord that lowered the blinds. They promptly fell from their niche at the top of the window and landed with what seemed to be an earth-shattering thump at 8:00 a.m. Sasami must have raised those blinds. She was usually thoughtful like that, and she had timed it so that the sun would do her job of waking me up for her at the exact hour that she would usually finish preparing breakfast.

Today, I just didn't want to get out of bed for some reason. Maybe it had something to do with yesterday. You see, the other day, our quite dysfunctional and assuredly temporary family went on a picnic. It was deep in the mountains, next to a camellia tree whose life was slowly ebbing away. The sun was shining brightly, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, red and pink petals floated through the air all around us; it was lovely. Or, it would have been if not for that devil woman.

It was the perfect spot, you know? One in which I would have chosen to spend some quality time with that awfully sweet Tenchi. But of course, we weren't alone, so I made due by acting courteous, striking up entertaining conversation, and passing around compliments. I was just being my usual, cheery self. After a few rounds of fried maple leaves, I was even being nice to Ryoko for a change.

But, as you are probably aware, Ryoko has one best friend in the world: sake. Oh yes, that awful beverage that she goes to great lengths to consume was by her side all through the picnic. Naturally, she wanted to share this with Tenchi, which would have been all right except for the fact that Tenchi didn't want any; to no avail, of course, since Ryoko almost never takes "no" for an answer.

We had been through this ritual many times before, and I had my lines well rehearsed, so I promptly reprimanded her for her rudeness. She responded in kind with her usual biting backtalk, so I shot back the same, and then she came up with another retort, and so on, and so on.

It sort of went on all day, us shooting remarks at each other, that is, until we ran out of verbal ammunition. On the walk back home, Ryoko began to realize that she would never outwit me in the battle of the words, so she fired off a weak plasma bolt. I blocked it with my force shield and threw a force punch at her gut. She blocked it, activated her beam saber, and the fight was on.

Naturally, Tenchi stopped us from killing each other, but by that time both Ryoko and myself were totally worn out.

Oh my goodness! I've used up so much dialogue telling you about yesterday's incident that I haven't even gotten to today's adventure! Still, I am one for details.

Anyhow, it was a sunny morning, I pulled the blinds down, lah-dee-dah; a pretty normal morning, right? If only that were so.

I soon realized that getting back to sleep was impossible due to the wonderful aroma of Sasami's cooking wafting through the house and under my nose. My mind wanted to get more sleep, but my body was thinking otherwise. Food. Must eat. Rather carnal, isn't it?

Surrendering to nature's desire, I prepped myself for the day, put on a simple blue dress, and walked down to the kitchen. Sasami and Washu were already at the table, talking about one thing or another (probably about that embarrassing incident the other day). 

Sasami looked up cheerfully. "Oh, Big Sister! You're late for breakfast! It's already getting cold; what kept you?"

I sat down at my place and gazed at my plate while Washu watched me intently. She had the strangest smile on her face. What was that about?

"Oh, nothing Sasami." I replied, returning Washu's mischievous gaze with a confused eyebrow arch. "I was just a little tired."

Sasami smiled knowingly. "It was that fight with Ryoko yesterday, wasn't it?"

I just smiled and began devouring . . . no, delicately tasting my breakfast. How did she always seem to know what other people were thinking?

Washu broke off her stare and finished up her breakfast. She deposited the plate in the sink and headed for the door underneath the staircase. "If anybody needs me, I'll be in my lab."

As the door to the surreal laboratory closed, Sasami used a stage whisper in my direction. "Wow, that time outside yesterday must have short-circuited something. She needs to spend extra repair time in the 'hole'."

I giggled. "If she stayed out any longer, she might have burned to a crisp."

Washu really did stay in that monstrous lab too much. What in the world could she have been working on? Suddenly, I noticed something unusual.

"Sasami, where are Tenchi and Ryoko?"

Sasami looked thoughtful. "I don't know. I'll go find them, okay? You stay and eat your breakfast."

It didn't take two minutes before Sasami had done away with her plate and was out the door.

It was two hours later that I entered Ms. Washu's lab. As always, she was reclining in her floating futon and typing away, this time munching on some sort of greenery. 

"Ms. Washu?" I asked.

She turned and looked at me as though slightly annoyed. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

I was confused. "What do you mean, Ms. Washu?"

Ms. Washu put a hand to her forehead and red alarm lights started flashing and beeping everywhere. "Little Washu! Little Washu! Little Washu! LITTLE WASHU!!"

The alarms turned off and I cringed apprehensively. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Can I ask a favor of you, Little Washu?"

She smiled like a contented child. "That's more like it! Now, what did you want to ask of me?"

"This may sound unusual," I began. "But I think that someone is kidnapping us one by one!"

Ms. Washu looked at me warily. "Are you sure? I don't detect anything unusual on my scanners."

"But I'm sure that something horrible is going on!" I persisted. "Tenchi and Ryoko were both missing this morning, and Sasami went to look for them two hours ago. I haven't seen her since! What are we to do, Ms.-" I heard Ms. Washu loading a shotgun. "Sorry, Little Washu?"

Ms. Washu put away her shotgun and pulled up a computer display. "Well, I can't do anything, Ayeka. I'm just a little too busy with another experiment. However, you could probably solve this mystery by yourself."

"I can?"

Ms. Washu smiled mischievously. "Of course! With my detective tool cache," She pulled a briefcase out of a dimensional warp hole. "You'll be the most high tech inspector around!"

I accepted the briefcase cautiously and asked, "And what tool should I use first?"

Ms. Washu tossed me an object out of her pocket. A Valium pill? Oh, ha ha.

It just didn't make any sense. My first inclination was to follow the most recent trail, that being Sasami's footprints. Using Washu's magnifier, I followed Sasami's footprints out the door, around the back of the house, though the carrot patch (getting a little odd now), and back to the driveway near the front door. It was there that her footprints simply disappeared. Now, under normal circumstances I would have assumed that she had gotten onto some kind of motorized vehicle with someone else and driven off, but there were no tire tracks, Honorable Father was at work, and there was not another car in the house.

I put away the magnifier and walked towards the shrine, utterly confused. Maybe Lord Yosho could offer some assistance. He always seemed to have a sixth sense about these things. As I made the perilous journey up the shrine steps that had not been completely repaired yet (due to Ryoko's slacking off), I rustled through Washu's tool kit for other objects of use. The first tool that my hand came in contact with was a white cylinder attached to a large black battery. Curiously, I turned on the switch. The battery began to vibrate out of my hand and race along the steps with loud thumping noises! I called after the wild machine as it dragged the cylinder up the steps with it, the cylinder now glowing blue at the tip. I suddenly realized what this was and ducked just in time to avoid a gigantic laser that shot out of the tail end of the deranged weapon. The weapon continued to fire at random intervals and in various directions before I caught up with it and snatched the cord out of the prefire chamber. Why in the world was a high-power laser weapon in Miss Washu's "detective kit"?

Purposely avoiding the satchel for the rest of the journey up the steps, I eventually made it into Yosho's office where he always was around noon doing calculations on our financial situation. The only problem was this: he wasn't there. I looked all over the shrine area, and even as far as I dared go into the Demon Tomb, but I saw neither sign nor trace of my brother. Had Yosho disappeared too?!

At about two o'clock that afternoon, I sat in front of the television, which didn't make any sense because I was too worried to watch anything. When I had returned to the house after searching for Yosho, I discovered that Miss Washu had also gone missing in my absence. I had called Noboyuki at his workplace but his secretary answered the phone and told me that he had not come in to work today.

So, I was the only one left. Why was it me? Did whatever evil force that had swept my friends away think me stronger than the rest, or perhaps more savory, as disgusting as that may sound? My mind was wracked with questions, and I had the answer for none of them. I kept on circling the facts in my mind while inspecting the rest of the items from Miss Washu's kit for several hours, since there seemed to be nothing to do but wait for the inevitable.

At 6 o'clock I was almost bored to tears. I had expected the feeling of worry to subside into resignation after a while, but it had only worsened into a deep anxiety. I now wanted that evil force to get it over with. Why was it waiting so long? I had thought that I had heard rustling in other sections of the house earlier, and had expected imminent doom each time. Still, no swift, enjoyable death came to me. 

Now I heard the front door opening. It was coming. I could see the dark shadow moving behind me. I awaited its wrath. I heard Ryoko's voice?

"Hey, what's up, Ayeka?" she shouted raucously with her arms wrapped around a smiling Tenchi who was holding a basket of carrots. "Why are you sitting there like you expect the Grim Reaper or something?"

I turned around to find that the entire missing cast had reappeared through the front door. Without thinking, I got up and dashed towards Tenchi, disregarding Ryoko. I hugged him tightly and cried against my will. "Oh, Lord Tenchi! It was horrible! I was at home all alone; I thought everyone had disappeared! I was so scared!"

Tenchi put his arms around my shoulders. "Geez, I'm sorry, Ayeka. We probably should have left a note." 

Sasami held up a notebook and pencil. "Everything's okay Big Sister, see? When I went outside to look for Ryoko and Tenchi, I found Ryoko and remembered that I had wanted to go into town and get something to draw with. So Ryoko was real nice and took me to the shopping center!"

I sniffed. "Then why were there no footprints?"

Sasami looked confused. "No footprints?"

Ryoko laughed, now moving towards the dining room. "That's easy. I didn't see the point in walking, so we just flew over there."

Sasami smiled. "Yeah, that was real cool."

Yosho smiled as well. "I thought you knew by now that I go into town every Thursday to help an associate of mine with his shrine work."

Noboyuki stood behind him. "My secretary told me you called when I came into work late after a major traffic jam, but I didn't have time to call you back because I was rushing to finish my work."

Washu was typing as she walked in. "You seemed to be all set to go solve the case, so I didn't see the hurt in running off to collect some field data."

I separated myself from Tenchi and asked, "Where were you, Tenchi?"

He smiled that usual disarming smile. "I was at school Ayeka. I had to get there extra-early to study for a test."

"Oh! I feel so foolish!" I gasped as the others walked off into the dining room. There was really nothing to worry about after all! What a relief. 

Wait a minute. It was summer now. Didn't Tenchi have summer break? I walked into the dining room to inquire as to the meaning of this when a brilliant flash of light and tinsel exploded in front of my eyes. 

A chorus of voices rang out, "Happy Birthday, Ayeka!"

I was delirious as the fanfare continued, Tenchi pumped up the stereo, the cake was cut, and the presents were handed to me. I was delirious as I saw the silver and gold hairclips from Tenchi (primitive, but thoughtful), the bottle of sake from Ryoko (figures), the new clothes from Washu (her own personal design, of course), the new alarm clock from Sasami (very utilitarian), the makeup package from Yosho (picked out by Washu), and the . . . um, bondage suit from Noboyuki (like I should have expected anything else). At the end of my unusual birthday, with everyone either gone to bed or, in Ryoko's case, passed out on the couch, I sat up late with Tenchi watching reruns of some of my favorite programs. Just before I was about to doze off, I looked up into those soft, brown eyes of his and whispered, "Thank you, Lord Tenchi."

Like a true gentleman, he picked me up and carried me to my bed, neatly tucking me in and turning out the lights. The surprise came when he thought I was asleep. He leaned down and deftly kissed me on the forehead. "Good night, Ayeka."

I heard the door close and felt free to let my mind flash in rainbow colors like a myriad of prism-like butterflies. He had actually kissed me goodnight! How sweet! 

It was then that I sensed another presence in the room. "I know you're awake." it said.

I was confused. "What?"

"You won't get him." the voice continued. "You won't win Tenchi's heart."

"Why do you say that?" I asked, now knowing full well who was in my room.

"Because he already belongs to me, and he darn well knows it."

"Well then, it's a contest, is it? Is Tenchi's heart a prize that you'd like to win? Is his love something that you can staple to a wooden board and hang on your wall as a trophy?"

"I should ask the same of you, princess."

I started to say something, but I could tell that she was already gone. She was wrong. Maybe he had been some kind of prize to me at first, but now I was in love. And I am determined to win.

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction and uses characters and situations from the Tenchi Muyo TV series, copyrighted under Pioneer. Also, some characters may come from the No Need For Tenchi graphic novel series, copyright Viz Comics. I take no credit for the base characters and plot, but all developments as of the time frame of my story are of my own design. If by some strange chance my plot is parallel to another author's fan fiction, I wish to be notified. For comments and information, E-mail me at _bkvhw@earthlink.net_


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